"Oh, come on, Lily!" Rowan exclaimed, walking beside her friend on their way to Herbology, "You have got to be joking. Snivelly is trying to make up his own spells?"
"No," Lily replied, "He already has."
"But I didn't even know that was possible," Rowan said, "How could that freak know how to make up his own spells?"
"Don't call Sev a freak," Lily said, "And he's a lot smarter than you think, actually."
"I doubt that..." Rowan muttered, "Besides, you didn't really answer my question."
"I don't know how he found out how to do it," she replied, "He just knows. I think he's been talking to the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, though."
"I heard that he's really interested in the Dark Arts," Rowan said, "Is he? That's not exactly a good sign."
"Yeah," Lily responded, "Yeah, he's been into it since his second year. Since he joined that stupid gang, really."
"Who's in that stupid gang?"
"Why do you want to know? Did Black put you up to this?"
"No," Rowan insisted, "I'm here of my own accord. I'm just curious, Lily. I'm thinking of being an Auror."
"Good luck with that," Lily said, "I don't really know much of who is in that stupid gang, but I do know that Rabastan Lestrange is in it, and Evan Rosier, Wilkes, and a few others that I don't know. Does that answer your question?"
"Enough," Rowan replied, "Certainly enough."
Lily looked at her quizzically as they arrived at the greenhouse.
"He's making up his own spells?" Sirius asked incredulously, collecting a respectable "Shh!" from McGonagall, who operated the Study Hall.
"Yes," Rowan replied quietly, "That's what Lily said."
"Great," he muttered, "That's just wonderful."
"Shh!"
Rowan rolled her eyes exasperatedly and pulled a spare piece of parchment out from between her books and a quill pen from the pocket of her cloak. After quickly scribbling something down, she pushed the note across the table to him.
You're overreacting.
Sirius took the quill he'd been using and wrote down two quick words, then passed it back over to her.
Am I?
Rowan was tempted to say, "Yes. Every time I say you are something and you ask 'Am I?' my answer is always going to be yes otherwise I wouldn't have said it!" But instead she wrote-
Yes, you are. How bad could they possibly be? He's a fifth year trying to make up his own spells. It's probably just stupid stuff like making people's ears buzz or gluing your tongue to the roof of your mouth.
Knowing him, it probably is. But honestly, do you think he'd be stupid enough to stop there?
What are you saying?
Could you ask Evans, maybe?
Are you asking me, or are you just being polite?
I'm just being polite.
Fine. I'll ask Lily, but I doubt she'd know anything. She barely knew anything about that stupid gang.
Which reminds me-
At that point Rowan had snatched it out of his hands and scribbled a quick list under his unfinished sentence.
Known members:
Snape (duh)
Rabastan Lestrange
Evan Rosier
Wilkes
Possible Members:
Avery
Mulciber (NOT me)
Bellatrix Black
My cousin?
Yup.
How? She graduated!
I heard that she still keeps in contact, but that his first year here they were pretty close, when she was in her seventh year.
I'm ashamed to be related to her.
As you should. I think she might be a little insane.
You don't have to see her at every single blasted family reunion.
Thank God for that.
As he'd read this, he looked up at her and glared, mouthing, "Lucky."
Suddenly, as he was about to write something, the parchment was lifted out of his hands, and, floating in midair above his head, was torn to shreds, which then proceeded to land in between himself and Rowan.
"Next time you choose to pass notes in my Study Hall," McGonagall's voice rang out from her desk, "I will not be so kind as to tear it up."
"I knew it!" Lily exclaimed. She was sitting on her bed in their dormitory. It was long past midnight, and she and Rowan were hiding under her sheets, using their wands to see each other.
"Shh!" Rowan hushed, bringing her index finger to her lips and indicating the other girls in the rooms.
"I knew it!" Lily whispered, "I absolutely, positively knew it. Black put you up to this, didn't he?"
"He asked me to ask you," Rowan admitted, "But I wouldn't do it unless I had a reason as well."
"And what is that?"
After a moment of hesitation, Rowan pulled the sheets off to make sure everybody was actually asleep, and then, after pulling them back over, she whispered as quietly as she could, "I agree with Sirius. Snivel-I mean Snape has been extremely fascinated with the Dark Arts since he came here, and he's obsessed with trying to figure out where we all go one night out of the month, and he's making his own spells. I can't help but wonder if they all have some sort of connection."
"Well, there is no connection between them," Lily insisted, "Sev is interested in where you all go, but he wouldn't go so far as to create spells using the Dark Arts so he could find out. He is not that stupid!"
"Shh," Rowan hushed again as she heard a girl stir. When all was silent again, she whispered, "He might not be that stupid, but he might just be that curious. All I'm asking is that you just go talk to him. You're his friend!"
"Yeah," Lily agreed, "His friend. Fine, I'll do it. But you owe me!"
Rowan smiled. She then made her wand's light disappear, crawled off of Lily's bed, and into her own.
"But why won't you tell me, Sev?" Lily asked, stopping in front of him so he couldn't ignore her. They were in a narrow hallway that led through the dungeons, to the Potions classroom.
Snape's greasy hair fell into his sallow face. "I want it to be a surprise," he responded simply, trying to get past her.
"That's not a good enough answer," Lily said, "What's the actual reason?"
He let a nasty smile spread from ear-to-ear. "Because, I don't want you telling anyone about them who might spread the word to certain people."
"I wouldn't tell anybody I didn't trust," she insisted.
"But that's your problem," he pointed out, "You trust just about everybody besides Slytherins and Potter's mediocre group of friends." He spat the name with such poison, such loathing in his voice that Lily shivered a bit.
"Not enough to tell them your secrets," she said, "I wouldn't tell some random person."
"Lily," he said with a tone of finality, "You'll discover soon enough what I have in mind. But until then, I want it to be a surprise. Nobody can know about this. I've only trusted a few people with it, and so far nothing's leaked out-"
"Levicorpus!" a familiar voice yelled.
A young scream rang throughout the dungeon, filled with terror and shock, but mostly terror.
"What are you doing, Rabastan?" Slughorn could be heard screaming, "I don't know where you learned that spell, I've never heard of it before, but I want you to fix it right now and let Witherby down!"
"My name's not Witherby!" the boy screeched. There was a thump, accompanied by a disgruntled, "Ugh!" the sound of movement, and a young third year Hufflepuff boy, probably just leaving Remedial Potions, raced by, his eyes wide and his mouth hanging open.
"Galloping Gorgons!" Lily exclaimed, "What on Earth was that all about?"
But Snape just pushed by her, and she noticed that there was a slight redness to his cheeks, and he kept his head down to hide the absolute fury in his cold, black eyes.