Chapter 4
LILY EVANS
Lily would be the first person to admit that she was not as smart as her brother. Ever since they were children, her brother had been the smarter one of the two, and that had remained consistent even after they had come to Hogwarts.
He had figured out that they were a witch and a wizard years before her, and had been secretly training with Severus for some time before revealing the secret, and even after that, she had been unable to do half the stuff he managed to do, like chant-less and point casting.
Even Severus whose mother was a witch, admitted that her brother was special. Yet Lily had never felt jealous of him, for having Alder with her gave her reassurance, and allowed her to be freer and varied with her interests for she had him in the corner watching over her shoulder, ready to guide her.
"When were you going to tell me that you fought against Lucius Malfoy last night?" she raged, as the three of them settled down into their Runes class, and his head turned towards McKinnon as the girl simply looked away and whistled.
"What was there to tell?" he pretended otherwise, as Lily pinched his thigh, making him wince.
"That you got into a duel with a senior from Slytherin last night," she demanded and it would not have mattered to her if not for the fact that he had been the one who had told her about the brewing war.
"I was just doing my job as a prefect," and she was not angry that he intervened, she was angry that he kept it from her.
"I know, but you should have told me,"she argued, as he raised a brow.
"Do you want me to tell you all that I do during the nights?" and she punched him in the arm, as she rolled her eyes at his insinuation.
"You should if it involves one of the Black sisters," and that was what worried her more because the Slytherins and the pure-bloods were not the kinds to let things like that go, and her brother had always been somewhat antagonistic to their dogma and had started a duelling club as a sort of a response to the constant harassment faced by Muggle-borns like them.
The club had begun with just the three of them, and then later, one Muggle-born student from all the Houses had joined in. And when the rest of the school saw the improvement in the magical prowess of the participants, many Half-bloods and even pure-bloods, such as that insufferable Potter and Black, had joined as well.
"You're the one who's always warning me and Severus to stay out of all this pure-blood drama," she argued, and now he had involved himself in it directly.
"It's nothing, Lily," he assured her as Professor Babbling entered the classroom.
"It was just a little spat, and it is over now," and yet for some reason, she did not feel right.
"I hope so," she whispered as the Professor appeared on the stage.
"Now I hope all of you have done your reading...."
.
.
.
.
"So about the club meeting," he asked her as they left the classroom, and she was a sort of secretary for the club, organising everything with McKinnon.
"How many first years signed up?" he asked, and the number of participants continued to grow each year, and now, with this year's batch, they had finally crossed the thirty-student mark.
"I received applications from about eight students, though a few more will probably show up," and it felt good to Lily that she was a part of something like this, for her brother planned that the club remain a constant fixture at the school even after their graduation.
And it felt good to contribute something to the school that had given her so much.
"We will need a bigger classroom then," McKinnon added from the side, and her brother agreed.
"Yeah, and a couple of more training dummies," and that would not be easy to procure, for the school funds were allocated by the Governors, most of whom were pure bloods and would never agree to issue a grant for their club.
Until now, every piece of equipment that they had arranged had been either bought or procured using their funds.
"I will talk to Professor Flitwick about the classroom," she began as Alder nodded.
"And I will buy that extra training dummy..." McKinnon offered, but her brother shook his head.
"No need," he said, and while the McKinnons were rich, they were nothing like the Blacks and the Malfoys.
"I will arrange the dummy on my own. I found a broken one in a classroom a few years ago. I will see if I can repair it over the next few days," and McKinnon nodded.
"I will help," and that was great.
"Well, I will see you later," and with that, hollered away, leaving her alone with McKinnon as the girl whispered.
"They won't let this go," she whispered, and Lily knew that.
"I know," and she knew just the person who could tell her about their plans, and as she saw him walking down the Hall, she chased after him and called out the name of their old childhood friend.
"Severus. Severus," she called out, and the Slytherin boy turned to face her.
"Lily," he greeted her cautiously, as she whispered.
"We need to talk..."
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ANDROMEDA BLACK
One gaze from her and Narcissa's face paled as her sister realised that she had learned of her secret. Lucius's little confrontation with the Gryffindor prefect was the talk of the school, and it was obvious to her that the matter was far more complicated than the official statement made it out to be.
She had tried to force the truth out of Narcissa, but Narcissa had refused to budge. In the end, Andromeda was forced to rely on other sources, but now a day later, she had finally learned the whole truth of the incident and wanted to strangle both Lucius and Narcissa.
"Cissy," she whispered menacingly, and as she walked towards her, her little cabal of friends all vanished at once, leaving her alone to deal with the blonde girl.
"Andy," she greeted back, looking her in the eye, but she could spot the fear and hesitation in that gaze as Andromeda lashed out at her.
"You lied to me," she whispered, and she saw those eyes dim at her words, and the bruise on her face that had caused her alarm last night was now gone, but Andromeda wanted to destroy the hand that had caused it in the first place.
"I don't know what you...."
"Cissy!" she retorted angrily, as she pulled her by the arm and took her to a room by the side.
"Out!" she roared at the two first-year girls in the room, and they knew better than to defy one of the Black sisters and ran out as Andromeda closed off the door behind her and turned towards her younger idiot sister once more.
"I know everything," she told her, and Ted had talked with Alder himself to find out exactly what had happened last night, and as Narcissa realised the futility of lying she saw her face shift, as her eyes fell down to the floor in embarrassment.
And Andromeda had thought that she would scream and rage at her sister, but seeing her like this, she did not have the heart to scream as she simply asked again.
"You are my sister, Cissy. You should have told me the truth," for the Black family name meant something, and Lucius Malfoy needed to know his place.
"I would have skinned Lucius alive yesterday," she whispered for how dare he touch her sister.
"Merlin! I have half the mind to go out and do it right..."
"No," her sister finally cut in once more in a pained voice as Andromeda frowned.
"He hit you!" Andromeda raged, her mind unable to comprehend what was going on in her sister's mind.
"Yet you protected that jumped-up prick! You should have told me!" and Narcissa sat down on the bed and shook her head.
"And what would that have done?" she asked, and she could not believe her ears.
"I would have skinned him alive," Andromeda repeated, and she would get back at him for sure.
"And yet it would have changed nothing," Narcissa whispered weakly, as she frowned.
"What change..."
"I wrote to father and mother about this," and she stilled at those words, and the mention of their parents made her blood boil as it all began to click together.
"I told him about the..." and Narcissa's hand reached for her cheek, as she looked into her eyes and continued in a weak whisper.
"He praised me," and she saw tears well up in those eyes, as Andromeda cursed the man who called himself their father for his blindness.
"He praised me for lying and protecting my future husband," and Andromeda should have expected nothing less of the man, who had become blind to everything in his greed for power and influence.
Cygnus Black was the second son of Arcturus Black, and being the youngest son, he had always envied his elder brother for being the heir to House Black.
He was a talentless wizard who hungered for power and influence beyond his station, and rather than working hard for it. The man had chosen to sell his daughters to achieve his dream.
Voldemort, and the name was becoming more than a whisper now in their circles. The man was hailed as a visionary in the pure blood circles, and each and every blood purist sought to gain his favor, including her father, who wished to ally their House to his cause through his daughters.
"You know how father is," Andromeda whispered as her fists balled up in rage and frustration, as she sat beside her while her younger sister wrapped her arm around her and began to weep as she hugged her.
"I thought he was different," Narcissa whispered into her shoulder, and being the youngest sister, Narcissa was rather naive and pampered and had the habit of ignoring the worst in people.
"I had heard rumors about his friends, but he always seemed different, but it was all a ruse," and of course it was.
"They are all the same," Andromeda whispered, and that included her supposed Rebastan Lestrange, her supposed betrothed. However, Andromeda had no plans on ruining her life because of her father's actions.
"Rebastan, Lucius, Rdlphus..." and it seemed to her that she had finally seen them for what they were.
Unlike their eldest sister, who rejoiced in seeing suffering and was a fervent believer in all the blood purity propaganda, Andromeda had always been skeptical of the idea, for if blood purity mattered so much, why was it that the strongest wizard of their time was a half blood?
They thought of Muggle-borns as savages and low-borns, yet after coming to Hogwarts and seeing them for herself, she realised that they were all but lies.
"Forget about father," she consoled her as she pushed her away and wiped away her tears.
"Write to grandfather," she advised, for while Cygnus Black may be their father, it was their grandfather who was still the Head of the family.
"Tell him about what happened last night," and Andromeda hoped that this would make the man intervene in the matter, and stay their father's hand.
"What can he do?" Narcissa asked, but if there was anyone who could help them in this predicament, it was him.
"He is the Lord of the Black family, and that comes with a lot of power," and while her own letters had not been able to move him, she hoped that their combined voice might be able to sway his heart.
"In the meantime, you need to learn to stand up for yourself," and they had cajoled her too much, such that people like Lucius grew bold enough to raise their hands at her.
"But I am not like you or Bella," and Andromeda flinched at the mention of their eldest sibling and prayed in her heart that Narcissa never became like her.
"You are our sister. So yes, you are like me and Bella," and it was time for her to teach her a few things about magic.
"You need to learn to use magic to defend yourself," Andromeda announced, as she hit upon an idea.
"How?"
"Free your Sunday morning. You are coming with me...."
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