Since things had come to a head they had taken to more openly meeting in the courtyard to talk, at least when they didn't want to have fun privately. The place was often deserted after classes, especially now the freeze had started. But Harry enjoyed it, being out in the open air with Lily felt somewhat like a date.
She came over tucked into her scarf, hair billowing in the breeze. They sat down on one of the ivory benches and she took his hand.
"Had a good day?" she asked.
"Good, you?"
She nodded. "Great."
He took in a deep breath of cold air. "Actually, I wanted to talk to you about something."
"What is it?"
"I always feel terrible when I have to give you bad news."
She rested her head on his shoulder. "Just give me a hug when it's over."
"The reason I wanted to help Regulus is because he joined Riddle in my time. Called themselves Death Eaters, you might have heard about them. Riddle played off people's frustrations and fears. I have a feeling Regulus could never turn now. He's got Sirius, friends. He even got a girlfriend."
"Do tell."
"Lucinda."
"Good for him. She seems a handful though."
"She is." Harry fondly replied.
Harry sighed. "But that's not who I wanted to bring up, it's about an old friend of yours."
She lifted her head to look at him, frowning.
"Severus Snape."
"Bugger, you were right I'm not ready for this."
"He was part of the Death Eaters too, but he flipped when he learned you were in danger. He tried to help me out. He didn't make it."
The news seemed to weigh heavily on her. "So you want to help him like you helped Reg?"
"Snape can be a bastard but he has a good heart. I just don't want him to become my enemy."
"You're going to need people to help you."
Harry felt frustration grow in the pit of his stomach. "I don't want to get more people in danger."
"But you need allies, people you can count on."
"Look, I don't want people dead just to make things easier. I'm not raising an army, not again."
"You're willing to risk your own life but you're not willing to let others risk theirs?" she said in a disapproving tone.
"Just leave it, all right, I don't want to hear it."
He understood her feelings, but he couldn't let her drag people into this because of it.
"Then you still would need to befriend him. Even if you won't let him fight, he could help. Would be a waste not to have his talent."
"I already tried. Didn't have much luck."
"So we figure it out, like we did last time."
After a moment they both stood up, looking ahead.
"You owe me a hug." she said.
"I should refuse you." he said putting his arms around her.
"Are you angry at me?" she asked, nuzzling into his chest.
He laughed. "You just get me worked up sometimes, Lil."
She turned to look up at him, grinning. "Did you just use a pet name?"
He blushed, she took his hand walking the way back to the castle. "It's not fair, you can't shorten 'Harry'. Har, Gary, Hrrrr, Arry, now that just sounds like 'hairy'."
"Please stop it."
-sSsSsSsSs-
Harry and Regulus were working on their last few assignments before the break. They were both munching on some caramel and chocolate peanuts to keep their energy up through the monotonous work. Nathan was sat at a table feverishly penning down transfiguration notes in anticipation of his N.E.W.T.'s and Luci did the same for herbology.
Reg who had been much ahead of him stood up in victory. "Finally! I am free."
"Wonderful, but keep it down, will you?" Luci answered without looking up.
He sat back down with a sigh and picked up the copy of the Prophet, flipping to the sports page. "You're not going to be lonely without us, Harry?"
"I think I'll live."
"I bet," Luci laughed, "Lily's staying too."
Reg's eyes widened and he made a knowing silent 'oh'.
Next thing Harry felt the weight of Reg's fist in his arm. "Lucky bastard!"
"Bloody hell, I'm working Reg."
Reg snickered in response.
Something lit up in Harry's mind. "Hey by the way, is anyone else staying behind on our side?"
"Eeeh," Nathan said narrowing his eyes to try and remember, "blast what's her name again. 5th year, big black curls, sounded French."
"Melissa Demarci, you mean?" Luci asked.
"Right! Apparently her dad's busy, no wonder, he works with Belby." Nathan answered.
"I heard something about it when I was at Slughorn's." Harry remembered.
Nathan rubbed his chin. "Aside from that, none I can remember. Well except for Snape as usual."
"Severus Snape?" Harry asked in surprise.
"You know him?"
Harry frowned. "Yeah Potter was being a dickhead to him. Had to step in."
"What a bastard." Luci said.
"He's a real ghost that Snape. One thing he's in class the next he disappears for hours on end. Tried to be friendly with him when he was sorted but it was like he already hated being here." Regulus said.
True. Aside from his excursions to the Hogwarts grounds on occasion, Snape seemed to simply disappear. With how much time Regulus spent in the library it wasn't as if he wouldn't notice. About an hour later Harry finished as well. Seven days were left until winter break.
The next day Lily sent him a charmed note in their last period asking him to meet at the usual spot, which meant the Room of Requirement. Harry made his way there making sure not to be followed, a habit he had picked up in his previous tour at Hogwarts. She was already sitting nice and cozy sipping on some tea, wearing sleek black boots he hadn't seen before.
He sat down beside her and nodded to her shoes. "Nice."
"Like 'em? Bought them last year on my muggle shopping spree." she said excitedly.
"Could get used to it." he said grinning.
He leaned in for a kiss and she couldn't suppress her smile as he did. She was in a lovely mood.
"Pretty soon we'll have near the whole castle to ourselves, Mr. Peltier."
He let out a laugh. "Already making plans?"
She responded with another kiss, letting her hand wander lower, giving him a devious look as she sat back in place.
"On a different note, did you have any ideas on what we talked about?" Harry asked.
She proudly stood up and framed the words with her hands. "Blind date."
"Pardon?"
"Well I was thinking. Part of the reason why we grew apart is that Severus wanted to be more than friends. And I wasn't ready for that, at least not until you came along." She gave him a wink.
"Still don't get it."
"What if we set him up with someone? To cheer him up, make him more receptive."
"Are you being serious?"
"Yes," she exclaimed, "worked for us didn't it?"
"Not the same at all," he pointed out, "besides do you know anyone who would be interested?"
Her shoulders slumped. "No, not really. I mean they'd have to be a good match. You know, studious and quiet."
"Wait. I actually might know someone," he said standing up as well, "remember Melissa, from the Slug Club?"
"Right, I do. Nice curly hair, kind of cute."
"Well she's supposed to be good at potions, and Severus is bloody brilliant at it. If nothing else it would get them talking. Heard she was staying for the break."
"Brilliant! So how do we get them together?"
Harry shrugged. "I figure I could talk to Melissa. I'm in the good graces of Slytherin, she'd probably listen. What about Snape though? He's not a big fan of mine and he's kind of a loner."
"I could tell him I want to talk, get him there under false pretense?"
"That is a terrible idea. By the way, what's with Gryffindor being more sneaky than Slytherin?"
"Well, do you have a better one?" she asked.
"I guess I don't."
Harry thought the idea was ridiculous. Aside from the incredible awkwardness of setting up Snape with Melissa, there was the possible backlash of him blaming Lily for deceiving him. But she had insisted and they would both set their hare-brained scheme in motion. Harry talked with Melissa the next day. He told her a friend of him wanted to talk potions, mentioning Snape, and told her the time to meet at the library.
When he later met Lily she told him Severus had accepted on her end. Lily wanted to take the Invisibility Cloak to check on them but Harry refused. The last thing he wanted to do was spy on Snape's dating life.
It's as they were sitting in the inner courtyard later they noticed Severus barreling for them. Harry hid his face, he planned on letting her deal with the fallout.
"You lied to me?" He said in an accusatory tone.
She stood up. "Severus I'm sorry. But I thought if you talked to a nice girl, maybe things would be easier."
"Peltier, did you have anything to do with this?" he said.
"I told her it was a bad idea." he said rubbing his temple.
Snape scoffed. "You know, she is a nice girl. Do you know how embarrassing it was to be told I was stood up?"
Harry could see she felt terrible about the whole thing.
She sighed and put her arms around her waist. "I'm sorry. But you haven't said a word to me in forever. I was being an idiot."
Severus took in a breath to calm himself.
"I heard you stopped hanging around Potter." he said, shooting a glance at Harry.
"He went from bad to worse. Couldn't stand to see him any more." she answered with a tinge of hurt.
"Well at least you're doing something right." he said, turning to leave.
Harry felt bad about having Lily's hard work turn to ashes. Maybe he could salvage this.
"Hold on Snape," he said standing up, "I'm part to blame for this. Truth is we tried to reach out because we might need your help."
"Help with what?"
Harry laughed. "Saving Britain?"
"Are you making fun of me now?"
"He's not." Lily said.
Harry tried to put on his best look of leadership, remembering the days of Dumbledore's Army. "Come to the 7th floor when everyone has left on break. Meet us after dinner. We want to show you something."
Severus didn't speak but his curiosity was apparent. He gave Lily a last look before silently walking off.
"Are you sure about this?" Lily asked.
"We're not going to get anywhere waiting for our luck to change."
-sSsSsSsSs-
Harry came down from the dorms with a stack of three packages of varying size, beaming as the Slytherin common room resounded with the agitation of packing students.
He went over to his friends, handing a small package to Regulus. "Merry Christmas, mate."
"Thanks," he said inspecting the small package and gave him a spirited hug, "keep an eye out for my owl will you?"
Inside was a certain penknife Harry had dug out from his carefully hidden bottomless bag. Regulus wouldn't know, but it felt fitting for it to return to the Black family. To Luci he handed a bottle of perfume Lily had helped him pick out, and to Nathan he offered a book on conjuration he knew he had been looking for. They all gave Harry a warm goodbye and left to board the Hogwarts Express.
The empty common room did feel a tad lonely. As new as his friendships were, he valued them intensely.
As he entered the Great Hall, he saw Lily sit with Remus. She waved him over and he sat down across from her.
"Oh, this feels kind of strange."
"What? Sitting with the enemy?" Lily laughed as she chomped down on a delicious looking pork cutlet.
Harry laughed in return. "I guess."
"Harry Peltier." he said extending his hand to Remus, who had kept quiet.
"Remus Lupin." he responded as he shook his hand. Clearly him witnessing his duel with James made this a bit awkward.
"I was just talking to Remus, I think we should bring him along later." she said.
He gave her a frown. "You think that's a good idea? Snape was already pretty shaky about the whole thing."
Remus' curiosity peaked at the mention.
She winked. "It'll work out. I have faith."
Harry shook his head and looked at Remus. The quiet boy really was a contrast to the confident Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and Order pillar.
"Do you know what we're trying to do?" he asked Remus.
"Lily said you needed help with something."
"And you accepted no questions asked?"
Remus shrugged. "I owe her a lot."
"Does he know?" Remus said turning to Lily.
"He does."
"If you're still asking for my help knowing what I am, maybe you're not as bad as James pretends you are."
Harry smiled at this. There were glimmers of the Lupin he knew showing after all. "Thanks."
Dinner went on in relative silence, Harry and Remus sparsely demanded Lily's attention with talk of classes and the upcoming holidays. It was under Dumbledore's advisement that Remus had stayed at Hogwarts, it seemed his parents had been struggling with his condition even though Remus didn't say so outright.
Afterwards they made their way to the 7th floor.
"Are you ready?" Lily asked Remus.
"I'm not sure what to expect."
Severus was already there, standing arms crossed in the hallway, ready for anything. He turned towards the group and his gaze followed Remus. "What is the meaning of this?"
Lily stepped forward to meet him. "Please be patient, this is important. Harry?"
Harry nodded and made his way further down the hallway. Perhaps he should ask for the training room today, if nothing else it would be fitting if Remus and Severus decided to tear each other to shreds. The iron door melded from stone and ground into place. Harry pushed it open, taking a look back at his incredulous guests. "Are you coming in?"
Severus was taking in the room, pondering with interest.
Remus had a smile on his face and was excitedly going from the dummies to the bookshelves in wonder. "Lily! What is this place?"
Lily looked at Harry and he answered. "It's the Room of Requirement. If you need a room with a purpose, it appears on the 7th floor."
"How did you find it?" Severus asked.
"The Hogwarts elves know about it." Harry said.
Severus had to snap out of his amazement. "Yes that's all good and well, but may I ask why we're actually here?"
Remus wasting no time, threw a disarming spell at the dummy. The placeholder wand flew out of its hand and just as quickly returned to it. "Brilliant." Remus said turning back to them.
Harry gathered his courage, breathing deep. "How much do you know about Horcruxes?"
Severus looked eyes wide in shock at Lily.
"What's a Horcrux?" Remus asked.
"It's a piece of one's soul, bound to something by an unspeakable act. Why would you ask about this?" Snape answered.
"Because I need to figure out how to destroy them."
Severus laughed in disbelief. "Destroy a Horcrux? There's only one wizard even powerful enough to create such a thing and I doubt the moralizing headmaster has one lying around."
Harry shook his head. "There's another one. You know who."
This silenced the room.
"And what." Severus said.
"The war will only get worse. Now it's terror and threats, soon no one will be safe."
"I knew it. You're insane, and you're dragging Lily into this! Lily, tell me you're not going to follow this idiot and get yourself killed?!"
"I was the one who asked to help him," she quietly explained, "he knows more than anyone about Voldemort."
"So let the Ministry deal with this. Tell Dumbledore, let him play at hunting him!"
"The Ministry is already compromised. And soon this place will be too, he gains more followers every day." Harry said.
Remus stepped up. "I'm in."
"Then you're a fool!" Severus answered.
"We're not asking you to fight. But we need help dealing with the Horcruxes, I already know where most of them are."
"How?" Remus asked.
Harry sighed. This was the part he dreaded the most, more lies. "My parents. I can't say much more but they tried to stop him for a long time. That's how I know his real identity, and I know how to defeat him."
Severus sat down on one of the adjoining benches. He seemed defeated by the news. Harry couldn't blame him.
"Fine, I'll help you," he said looking down, "but you have to promise no harm will come to Lily."
"I'm here and I can make my own decisions, Severus." she said.
"On my life, Lily getting hurt is the last thing I want. But she won't be safe until he's defeated."
Snape finally stood up, still reeling.
"I hate to be the one asking, but how do we know we can trust each other?" Remus said looking across to Severus.
Harry looked at Lily sincerely. "Because no one here would risk endangering Lily. That's our unbreakable vow."
Lily laughed, shaking her head.
"Since we are doing this, meet me at the library tomorrow afternoon," Severus said chancing a grin, "I have my share of surprises as well."