It was good to have the gang back. He thanked them for their gifts, Luci not slightly trying to hide her interest as to if hers got some use. Harry had to grin thinking back that it hadn't, there had been no need to throw oil over a raging inferno. Quickly it came to recounting everyone's holidays.
Nathan got Harry's interest over talking about the less known tradition of Zephyr-Polo, a version of the muggle sport using brooms instead of horses. He was in the middle of talking about the hippogryph preserve nearby when Harry spotted Melissa and Severus walking in.
"I'll be right back." Harry said, going over to the both of them.
Severus was holding a book under his arm as they were quietly speaking.
"Hey."
"Harry, what is it?" Severus asked.
"Eh. Nothing really. I guess… I thought if you wanted." He nodded his head over at the Slytherin best and brightest, who had glanced over in their direction, still conversing.
"Ah," Severus said, "I understand, but no thanks."
"Oh bollocks! They're good friends and so are you, just come and say hello. Melissa?" he said.
She shrugged, looking at Severus, who responded with an overly dramatic sight. "Fine, but you won't force me to be friendly."
As he made his way to the sitting area, Regulus was eyeing him with a grin, but Luci spoke first.
"You made new friends, Harry?" she said with a warm look.
He flashed her a smile back. "You all know Severus and Melissa?"
Nathan extended a hand in Melissa's direction. "Nathan. We haven't talked much, but I keep up with your father's work. Very impressive, that essay on the alchemical properties of giant's hair."
Melissa shook it enthusiastically. "Thanks, I helped out for that one, but father has been rather busy lately, he's preparing for publishing. And I know who you are, prefect Melville."
Nathan chuckled. "Come on, sit down."
Leave it to the prefect to provide the social lubricant, Luci too their senior was being incredibly welcoming. Melissa explained how talented Severus was at potions and they had discussed the topic at length over the break.
"So tell us what you did while we were gone." Reg said.
"Can you believe we had a snowball fight? I was horrid at it, but Lupin really helped out. I barely scraped by my flying introduction." Melissa answered.
"Remus Lupin? From Gryffindor?" Luci asked.
Melissa nodded. "He was a perfect gentleman and not at all annoying, unlike some of them."
"Two Gryffindor and three Slytherin, must've made quite the group." Luci said.
"I'm glad Harry invited me to hang out with them." Melissa said smiling at him.
"What about you, Snape? You haven't said a word yet." Regulus asked.
"It was, interesting."
Reg laughed. "Well I'm glad you guys had fun. Oh! You have to come support the team against Ravenclaw. It's in four weeks, will be a big decider for the cup."
"I guess I wouldn't mind attending." Severus answered.
"Harry has been killing it as seeker. Should've seen the look on Potter when he caught that snitch last match."
Harry had to grin at Severus trying to hide his satisfaction.
"It's all thanks to our captain though." Harry said.
"Oh, Harry." Luci sighed, and her cheeks seemed to turn red.
"Well he is right," Reg said, "you're the one who scouted him in the first place."
The conversation was pleasant as they recounted their break, minus uncovering ancestral secrets of the castle. Harry's mind kept wandering to the map they found, it would be a lot more difficult for the four of them to make progress now. It occurred to him they needed a method of communication, because with prying eyes it would be hard to organize themselves. Maybe he should ask Lily.
They still had half a day of classes. As the conversation died down he somehow got the impression that something was off, aside from the two new additions to their circle. His mind immediately went to Riddle. Was it possible some had turned or been pressured over the break? Hairs stood up on the back of his neck, and as he turned to Luci, she averted her gaze. He felt a budding seed of anxiety take place in his stomach.
There was no way, was there?
-sSsSsSsSs-
Saturday was quidditch practice, Sunday was quidditch practice, it seemed every day that was not a day booked to the gills would be a quidditch practice day, and while usually this would have been a dream for Harry, he needed time to plan. He'd only mentioned the need for communication to Lily in passing, she had been busy too. That familiar feeling of frustration was pawing at him again, partly because he just didn't see enough of Lily.
The intuition he had about Luci also hadn't been completely squashed. She seemed happy, but there were those moments where she would seem preoccupied about something. The others must've noticed it too. He felt like he was juggling a few too many problems at a time, but maybe it was his wartime paranoia speaking.
On Monday his body was sore all over, but the bright side was Luci had N.E.W.T. classes, leaving him time to reunite the holiday team. He talked to Severus and Lily talked to Remus, there was a window of opportunity right before dinner they could use to meet.
It was only a matter of not disappearing in front of some unsuspecting student's face and they were all seated around the marble fountain again.
"So thanks to Peltier's grueling broom flying schedule we lose much needed time." Severus started off.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I don't know, I half expected it, but Luci seems… I don't know, did you notice anything?" Harry said.
"How should I know? I barely made it into your little sports club thanks to your invitation."
"Nathan's not on the team."
"No matter, what is the reason for us meeting?"
Lily rested forwards to demand attention. "We need a way to talk among ourselves, without anyone else noticing."
"I have a few ideas." Remus said grinning deviously.
"Me too, but it has to be airtight." Lily responded.
"Anything that leaves a trace or can be intercepted is a bit iffy." Harry said, thinking of the DA galleons.
"There's this mental sending spell," Lily said rubbing her forehead, "it's called… can't remember. But it allows you to send a mental message to someone."
"Sounds perfect." Remus said.
"Could get us tricked, what if someone disguises it as legilimency?" Harry's paranoia was showing again.
"Come on, that's a bit much."
"No, Harry's right. There has to be a better way." Lily said.
"Hm," Severus pondered, "what about blood magic?"
That got their attention.
"But that's dark magic." Remus said.
Severus rolled his eyes. "You think magic cares what kind of wizard you are?"
"Not all blood magic is bad." Harry said rubbing his scar.
With a start Severus stood up and made his way to the east annex. After a few minutes of thumping and shuffling books he came back, dropping the ancient tome onto the table between them, they all tried to make out what it was.
"This one deals almost exclusively with keying magic to someone's blood," Severus said pacing about, "now if we could make sure that mental message spell can only penetrate our occlumency with a blood pact, then there would be no need to second guess."
"There's a spell like that in here?" Harry asked.
"No. But we could create it. Lily, you've dabbled with spell creation, correct?"
Remus chuckled at his brazen proposal and Lily was smiling. Harry had to remind himself that he was in very capable company. It was decided. Lily and Severus would do the appropriate research to put together this experimental spell, Harry and Remus helping out where they could. It felt like every time their group got together they were taking great strides in their magical advancement. The Hat would be proud. They also agreed to plan their visit to the lost cottage for the first weekend of February, no doubt the anticipation was killing them.
-sSsSsSsSs-
"-got to keep your eye on the field, Harry. If we can pull off that exchange we'll be golden."
James retreated back where he came from at the sound of the Slytherin quidditch team returning from practice. This hadn't been the first time since his return he needed to duck in the shadows to avoid an awkward encounter he had no mind to deal with. He let out a deep breath of relief as the voices dimmed in direction of the dungeons.
Since when had he become such a coward? But thoughts of Lily and his friends brought back pangs of guilt that had plagued him for the past weeks. He knew very well she had been meeting the genius seeker in secret, or was he just imagining it being a secret because he was too scared to find out? All anger he felt before had been reduced to a pile of ash. He hadn't been sleeping well, talking to Remus and Sirius was awkward enough, and they'd pushed him to make things right with Lily. Peter was the only one who didn't know about the duel, James didn't need another friend to look at him like that.
On his way back to the dorms he just wished there was a hole he could crawl in. Where before people gave him looks of admiration and scorn, he saw awkward glances and whispers. No one had spoken of the duel, of that he was sure, or he would have faced the Headmaster already. But rumors were rumors and gossip of Peltier and Evans and Potter was ready on every speculating school girl's tongue.
"Hey."
The ambush startled him as he was nearing the tower. "Jesus, Sirius don't sneak up on me like this!"
Sirius laughed at his reaction. "You trying to hide out again?"
"Is she in there?"
Sirius' face soured a bit. "Yeah. Mate, you really should try and mend fences here."
James sighed. "Are you going to tell me how? Besides, she's seeing that guy Peltier isn't she? Just let me avoid her for another year and a half."
"You're bloody impossible, you know that? It's Lils we're talking about, just apologize, she'll forgive you, even if she's never going out with you now."
James groaned as he made his way forward. "You enjoy torturing me like this?"
"Look, I'm just being realistic. She's a friend, is mine, why can't that stay the same? You weren't in your right mind when you, you know! She'll understand that, just talk to her."
They stopped at the portrait. "And how do I even say that? Gee, Lilly, sorry I insulted you in front of your friends and tried to curse your boyfriend. Shake hands?"
"Doesn't matter what you say, just apologize. She'll know, just please try."
"Hm– hm– hm–. Password?" the fat lady said.
"Aconitum napellus." With shoulders slumped James prepared to enter.
-sSsSsSsSs-
He looked with glee at his silver engraved glove, Harry wasn't one for vanity but he really liked the way it looked on him. Made him feel like he was part of it all, a centerpiece of the quidditch team. That was the kind of attention he could live with. He thought he might as well get to practice early, maybe if he managed to ace all the plays Luci had planned out for them, she might stop being so pushy and nervous about the whole thing. Harry wanted to win as much as anyone, but the training regimen was bordering on obsessive.
Surprised, he saw Lily waiting on the way to the pitch, she was smiling in a way that he knew meant 'yes but here's the problem'. It seemed he would probably be late for practice after all. He met her with a hug, pressing close to her face in want of affection.
"Good to see you, Harry."
"But?"
"Darn, am I that obvious?" she said brushing her hair out of her face.
Harry grumbled. "Can't this wait? I know for a fact there's a broom cupboard not two halls from here."
He grinned seeing her frustration as she playfully pushed him back. "No, this can't wait. And don't freak out or anything, there's just someone here to talk to you."
As Harry's mind flashed possibilities before his eyes, his reticence only grew stronger, he hoped he was wrong.
"It's James."
He wasn't.
"Lily, do I have to?"
"Yes, you should want to! Wasn't it you who kept worrying?"
He had to concede there. And Lily being Lily had probably dragged James out here to try and build bridges, but sometimes this lead to more awkwardness and disaster than need be. He nodded. "All right, let's get this over with."
Lily pointed him to an arch out of sight of the northern exit. Standing there arms crossed, was James Potter uneasy on his feet, looking down. Harry had to stop himself from mirroring him, in the light of day away from distractions the similarities were obvious. Except Harry looked thinner, James' features were more rounded and he was slightly taller. There was also a sheen in his hair that made it reflect dark brown, as opposed to Harry's raven locks.
Aside from looks there was a stark contrast between the two. Harry stood broom in hand in full quidditch gear, silver serpent gleaming in the snow's reflecting light, James slumped resigned to the shadows of the castle.
"You didn't tell. Most people would've."
Harry scoffed, shaking his head. "Yeah, be known as a tattletale, wouldn't that be brilliant? Not to mention having to face Lily after."
He could see the pain in James' eyes. "Did you apologize to her?" Harry asked.
"So you did know," James said, "can't believe how I mucked it all up."
"Still feel like you want to kill me?"
James gave a look of indignation, followed by embarrassment. "I wasn't thinking clearly. I know it's no excuse, but..."
Harry sighed. He had never been angry about the curse itself, lord knows he had endured worse intentions. And at one point he had made the same mistake. If Severus – professor Snape he had to remind himself – hadn't been there to mend Malfoy's wounds he might have a murder on his conscience.
"I don't really care about that."
"You don't?"
"No. I was angry at you, for insulting Lily, for being such an arse to me and to Severus. As long as you can keep your wand and tongue somewhere it won't harm other people, I really don't give a hoot what you do, Potter."
He seemed somewhat relieved. "You're not going to beat me up for talking to your girl?"
"You think I have any say about what Lily does?" Harry answered laughing.
James pondered for a second and tried a forced grin. "You're not who I imagined."
"The more you know." Harry said, turning to leave.
"Hey!"
Harry turned at the shout, remembering the location of his wand.
"You better beat Ravenclaw, or my pride as a seeker won't be able to take it." James said.
-sSsSsSsSs-
Regulus was missing from practice today to catch up on his studies, which was a shame because it seemed Luci had finally mellowed out. He hadn't seen her this happy since their last match, the session was playful and fluid. They focused on simple drills mostly, he had a great time. She called it early and everyone was about to hit the showers when she called to him. "Want to help me practice my shots for a bit?"
"Sure." If anything the past weeks of training had boosted his endurance, he didn't mind tossing around the quaffle for a while longer.
It was a treat seeing her practice her shots. They had never talked about their future, but Harry could see her having a spot in the league. He had to dive for the ball after a backhand spin he could never catch playing keeper, even behind the goals it was tricky. She was beaming at his impressed look.
Around half an hour later she held up her hand as he caught her final shot. Panting, she slowly feathered over to him, contently smiling. As she came to rest beside him, again he noticed that shadow of unease drop on her features. Her hands were clasped on her broom, her lips drawn in facing away from him.
"Hey Harry." she said, still not meeting his gaze.
"Yeah?"
"If we win..." she said, turning to him straining for courage, "will you do something for me?"
"Of course."
She affectionately laughed. "You didn't even ask what it was."
His mind went over memories of the bright bubbly girl he had learned to know and a picture formed in his head. It wasn't betrayal, or her slipping into darkness, it was... "Tell me."
Her breathing was irregular and her eyes gleaming. "Will you kiss me? I-if we win?"
It felt as if his broom had dropped a hundred feet. She looked vulnerable, beautiful, and he didn't know what to say.