Second Year Shenanigans (The Calm Before The Storm)
To the motherfucking thrift-store dumbass decided that Regulus Black, Pandora Malfoy and Evan Rosier were allowed to read ‘The Song of Achilles’, Lily Evans would like to gift them the entire world's worth of middle fingers and a very wholehearted ‘Fuck You’.
Oh wait. She was that thrift-store dumbass. Fuck her.
The summer was coming along swimmingly so far, with Lily finally managing to perfect her kata stances and meet Dorcas’ approval. She and Severus snuck out of their houses far more often this summer, having had a lot of practice evading prefects, ghosts, Mrs. Norris and Filch during their nightly activities.
That sounded wrong and inappropriate, but hey, if the people wanted to assume and make her life easier, Lily wasn't going to object.
After nearly an entire year of hanging around those crazy psychos, the two of them should really expect at least one of the Seven to show up. However, they weren't prepared for the amount of times their friends would just randomly appear out of thin air.
Murphy's Law, thou art a heartless bastard.
None of them minded having their friends over, as it was quite lonely with just the two of them all the time, but please. There is a time and there is a place. Trying to become a freeloader off of her parent's and Aunt Eileen's generosity was not one of them.
Which was how Lily and Sev started to drag the more magic-oriented members of the Seven to muggle hotspots, and how Regulus, Evan and Pandora discovered the treasure trove that was an ordinary muggle library.
That was how the three started a book club.
That was how they started a cult about stacks of blocks of paper texts.
And that was how the three found this book called ‘The Song of Achilles’, and decided to read it together at said book club.
And now, Lily, Severus, Dorcas and Barty has three hysterical bookworms crying nonsensically on their shoulders about some guy named Patrick and how he has to watch his lover Archie turn suicidal as some soul-memeory-ghost-death-echo-thing.
“HIS NAME IS PATROCLUS!!!” - Regulus bellowed, obnoxiously blowing his nose onto a tissue that Sev handed him, - “AND HE AND ACHILLES DESERVED BETTER!!!”
“YEAH!!” - Evan and Pandora agreed, before recalling that they were currently sobbing and mourning the couple's death; and so they started wailing in despair again.
She breathed in. Then she breathed out.
Inner peace. Inner peace. Find your fucking inner peace, Lily.
Years and years ago, before moving to Cokeworth, an itty bitty Lily has found solace in the imaginary worlds of fantasy books and adventure novels. She would spend days holed up in their tiny town library, working herself through the entire fiction section. After that was done, she still wasn't satisfied.
So she read the non-fiction shelves. Learned about monitor lizards and Greek pottery and Cambodian temples.
Then she moved to the law section. Then the science section. Lily blew through the entire library for the seven years she lived there.
Lily Evans was a reader, was a bookworm, and a fanatic consumer of all things fiction.
She knew the agony and grief of experiencing your favorite characters’ death. She knew the pain of a series abruptly ending too soon. She knew the blood curdling screams she had let out as two completely oblivious idiots pine for each other and never actually ended up with one another by the end of the book.
Shortly before she left, she discovered the remedy to her illness.
The life, food and blood of every dreaming reader out there.
There was a steely gaze in her eyes now. The gleam of wisdom was passed along through thousands of generations. The knowledge of a society that's much too strong for the world to handle.
Lily sat her friends down, looking nothing short of an apex predator.
“Black. Malfoy. Rosier.” - Her words were grave, her face was stony. Her friends immediately sensed something wrong.
“Lils?” - Sev asked, concerned.
She barely spared him a glance, though the half-a-second eye contact was enough to calm her best friend.
Lily spoke, voice dark, - “I know your pain. I know your agony. I know that your heart was ripped out of your ribcage, stomped on mercilessly and got shattered into a million pieces. There is nothing I can say to you now, as there is no greater pain than losing someone you knew through pages upon pages of your closest imaginary world.”
The three sniffed, meekly nodding to her speech.
Sev, Cassie, and Barty look disturbed.
“I have no comfort to give you, for you need no comfort.” - Her tone is now dangerous, on an edge close to insanity, - “What you need is to take. To control. To turn this fate around and mold the world to your satisfaction.”
Her followers vigorously agreed, entranced towards Lily's creeping tendrils of vehement belief to an eerie degree.
Sev, Cassie and Barty slowly backed away.
“And this, my lovelies,” - Lily’s eyes glowed, arms moving in a flourish to motion towards a thoroughly pixelated object in her hands that appeared out of thin air, censored for the innocence and sanity of viewers and readers alike, - “—will be your salvation.”
Regulus shakily reached for the object, grasping air a few times before his hands made contact with the cool surface. His fingers made way over the matte finish, fingertips dashing over the sharp-rounded edges and dips of the single word etched on the top.
He faced Lily's direction, and feeling the two taps of confirmation she gave his hand, Regulus broke out in a manic grin.
Evan and Pandora scrambled to take a look at the still-very-heavily-pixelated-object, and all three touched it with a fervor that caused Severus, Dorcas and Barty to hide behind the library shelves, a good twenty rows away.
Shame. Those three didn't get to witness the initiation of Regulus Black, Pandora Malfoy and Evan Rosier to the old, old, ancient religion of—
“FANFICTION.”
(Severus, Dorcas and Barty smartly tucked their tails and ran away from the newly-initiated members of the Fandom, Fanfic, And All Things Fanon cult that were drawing up diagrams and cackling evilly.)
—
Evan believes he made a good decision.
But believing that one made a good decision and actually making a good decision are two completely different planets with few parallels to note of.
As it stands— Evan, in all his dumbass-genius-Sokka glory, firmly believed he made a good, amazing, rational and world-changing decision.
The Author isn't sure about the first three, but it was a world changing decision, all right.
Evan had decided to play Fireduck with Lily and Severus.
Unprompted.
While both were fighting for their lives against Barty and Pandora.
It was meant to be all in good fun, honestly, but Murphy's Law was never merciful with their little group.
It started with a spar.
Barty and Panda didn't go too hard on Lilypad and Sev, but they aren't exactly going easy on them either.
Zuks and Kat have harsh training philosophies, mostly likely thanks to the inherent male dominated and tradition based teachings they were taught. So as long as Lily and Severus could and would fight, they'll be learning from experience.
Everything is on the table— bending, magic, swords, potion-bombs, etc.— and playing dirty was to be expected from players within the arena.
With the ridiculously high amount of adrenaline running around, safe to say, Evan's spontaneous decision to test-throw his slingshot cannon to the circle of viciously fighting tweens wasn't a very sound one. Nor was his other impulsive act to light said cannon ball on fire.
As soon as the tell-tale BOOM of a cannon shot was heard, three things happened at once.
One: Barty and Pandora— with slightly higher self-preservation instincts and slighter faster reflexes, ducked out of the way to the demise of Pandora's favorite water pouch and half of Barty's hair.
Two: Lily, startled and for a moment, and, as she was terrified for her life— she blasted her first flames towards the cannon, leaving black scorch marks on the ceiling and gave everyone temporary deafness with her high-pitched shriek.
Three: Severus, who was on fire thanks to Lily's flames— instinctively waterbended what little water was left of Pandora's pouch and splashed himself, yelling and panicking.
By the end of everything, a newly-discovered firebender Lily looked like a piece of coal, a newly-found waterbender Severus was very similar to a drowned muppet, Barty’s hair was a burnt mess, and Pandora's favorite water pouch was reduced to a thoroughly fried piece of seal skin.
Regulus and Dorcas were laughing their asses off, and the four victims looked pissed.
Evan was still screaming bloody murder, five hours later.
—
“Dear Agni, woman!” - Barty yelped, diving out of the way as Lily thoroughly flambeéd the earth underneath where his feet were previously, - “PATIENCE!! I SAID HAVE SOME FUCKING PATIENCE!!!”
“DO I LOOK PATIENT TO YOU, CROUCH?!” - Lily hollered, not even letting the poor ground cool before turning wherever Barty's leaping on into a game of The Floor is Lava.
“FIND YOUR FLAME, EVANS!!” - Barty shouted, voice giddy like a leprechaun that had found gold, - “INNER FIRE! INNER FIRE! INNER FIRE!”
“TO HELL WITH YOUR INNER FIRE!!! I WANT TO TORCH POTTER NOW!!”
The other boy only cackled as he jumped over Lily and set her hair on fire, again. The girl screamed bloody murder, blasting fireball after fireball at her joyous sifu.
Off to the other side, Severus and Pandora are doing their own little bending lesson.
“So you just—” - Severus did an impressively wild set of hand motions, arms flinging around like a squid, but the water inside the giant bowl in front of them stayed still.
“No, you have to—” - Pandora did the exact same set of wild hand motions, and the water moved into the air above them like an elegant dancer, - “—while pushing and pulling.”
Severus looked ticked and frustrated. “What the hell am I pushing and pulling, exactly?”
Pandora shrugged, bending the water back into the bowl, - “The water.”
“That's what I've been doing for the last three hours!”
Pandora shook her head, - “No, you've been doing,” - She did something with her arms that looked like a blur, yet the water stool still, - “—and not doing,” - Pandora did the exact same flurry of motions, and the water swirled into schools of beautifully glimmering beta fish.
Severus screeched like an angry banshee.
Dorcas, Evan and Regulus are by the reading nets, legs swinging over the ledge, mouths obnoxiously crunching and eating popcorn.
“Should we stop them?”
“Nah. This is better entertainment than the lions’ last prank.”
—
Something is Up with Sirius’ brother and his group of snakes (besides Lily, of course) and James just knows it.
Now, James doesn't have any sort of problems with the Slytherin house at all, with the ex-exception of Severus Snape and a few other arseholes who insulted his friends. Regulus Black even more so, because this was Sirius’ little brother, the blind baby genius that his best friend could only rave about during their first year.
James was impressed with the kid, to say the least.
At first, it was a bit disturbing how Baby Black never needed help getting around, always sure of what he's doing, so much so that James would've thought that the young Slytherin wasn't actually blind if the other's eyes weren't milk-white. The boy never wore shoes, was as quick as a whip, smart enough to keep pace with Remus and Peter's ‘science’ debates, a Muggle subject James vowed to never take.
Regulus, who invented spells the moment he was given a wand. Regulus, who could levitate and summon things wandlessly, wordlessly, at eleven. Regulus, who wasn't afraid, wasn't weak, wasn't even a teensy bit hesitant to call James and Sirius (his own brother) out on their shit.
(James’ second-year Easter break was filled with shame, regret and humiliation. His parents weren't happy with what they learned from Sirius’ letter, who had reached his epiphany earlier than James had and had written a very formal letter of request for the Potters to fix their son's behavior.
Fleamont and Euphemia Potter were never easy to anger— always patient and always calm. But that week, faced with his Mom's disappointed expression and his Dad's tired sigh at every turn, made James realize that he doesn't want to know how angry they could be. Them being disappointed was enough.)
Now, it was the very same Regulus who seems to be involved with a very dangerous cult.
James didn't notice at first, but the evidence is undeniable.
It started off small.
James would be walking down the hallway as usual, laughing and joking with his friends when Sirius would spot Reggie in deep conversation with another student. Sirius would then jog over, dragging James, Remus and Peter with him; and the moment Regulus noticed his brother, whatever discussion he was having immediately ceased. Sirius and Reggie would exchange pleasantries, then they'd be on their way.
This alone wouldn't trigger any alarms, if it wasn't for the fact that over a prolonged period of time, he observed that Regulus and his conversation partner only did this when they were around. They, as in James, Remus, Sirius and Peter. Everyone else was brought into whatever they were talking about, even other Gryffindors like Lily and Bones were privy.
James had learned his lesson and is determinedly trying not to jump to conclusions, but if he did, it would seem like the entire Hogwarts population was a part of a giant joke that their group wasn't.
Even Mrs. Norris got spoken too, for Godric’s sake! What the hell did the four of them even do?
The Black sisters were in on whatever Regulus and Co. were doing, so the fact that Sirius didn't know doesn't fit. If Regulus was hiding something, it's much more likely that he'd be hiding it from all of his relatives that are going to Hogwarts, not just Sirius.
So just what is Regulus Black’s secret?
This was the start of James Fleamont Potter's endless spiral into the cryptic mystery that was Regulus Arcturus Black. This was when James started paying attention to his best friend's little brother. This was when James got interested, got invested in every breath the half-Slytherin, half-Gryffindor took.
It was the start of his downfall, and he didn’t know it yet.
(The author would like to add that this was James’ particularly fancy way of saying he fell for Regulus Black at the ripe age of thirteen, but what do they know— clearly, these characters have developed free will and are trying their damndest to T-bone this story into the fourth wall.)
Looking at his friends who were fast asleep, James threw on his cloak and carefully hissed a whispered, - “Remetior gradus, de Regulus Black.”
Immediately, his wand glowed, showing him a set of golden footsteps that belonged to the other boy. James quietly tip-toed out of the portrait hole, and followed them to the left corridor on the seventh floor, before having it disappear behind the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy and the Ballet Trolls.
Again.
He muttered a curse, before grumpily making way back to his dorm. Even if he camped out here the entire night, nothing would happen— James had already been in this exact situation the entire week before.
Turning around, he didn't hear the silly giggles the exact subject of the tracing spell made.
Nor did he hear the gleeful voices belonging to six other people.
—
“—Ouch! What's that for?” - Barty yelped, glaring at his fellow Slytherin-Gryffindor at the sudden pinch.
Regulus shushed him dramatically, looking over his shoulder with exaggeration. His little sibling's hand was signaling the familiar sign for Moose-Lion.
Barty bit his lip, barely managing to muffle a sudden guffaw. By the looks of it, Reggie was in the same boat. He doesn't know what sort of Invisibility Cloak or Disillusionment charm Potter had on, but it's going to take much more than that to fool Toph's Seismic Sense.
After they decided on their oh-so-secret group name last year, everybody got to work. You see, while most of them have forgiven Sirius Black for his misgivings after Lily and Severus had shown them the rather genuine apology letters and lavish compensation gifts, the matter of James Potter was entirely different.
First of all, besides not bothering or harassing Lily and Severus on an hourly basis— which he should be doing in the first place— there was no formal apology, no note, no nothing from the persistent Gryffindor.
No “I apologize for constantly harassing you for two years non-stop, even when you told me to fuck off and leave you alone”. No “I’m deeply ashamed and regret my actions towards you, I was an immature prat and a bully and I hope you know you deserve better than that”. Not even a single “I'm sorry”.
Secondly, from the many rants Regulus sometime receives from his brother, Potter is still hatching romancing plans— just way less ‘MARRY ME RIGHT THIS INSTANT AND I DON'T CARE IF YOU SAY NO’ and more of ‘I'M A GOOD MAN, I PROMISE I'M A CATCH— DATE ME PLEASE’. Every time Black Sr. complains about having to be Potter's personal ‘Ladies Man’ and having to monitor every desperate pony-show attempt to get Lily to come to him, the lot of them curl up with each other in The Room and have a good full-bellied laugh.
Thirdly, it's fun hatching plans to subtly fuck with Potter. Just the other day, Barty and Evan personally witnessed Gryffindor's Star Chaser go through the seven stages of grief within twenty seconds as he eavesdropped on Regulus and Pandora’s Very Very Vague and Very Exaggerated Tale of The Painted Lady. It was glorious.
So, if you were wondering if the seven of them created an entire play— equipped with all Three Acts, intermissions, costumes, scripts, musical numbers and dance choreography— just to psychologically mess with one single thirteen-year-old over a grudge; then yes. Yes they did.
Nobody said Slytherins aren't petty.
(Lily Persephone Evans is a viper under all of those pretty reds and golds, don't even dare to insinuate otherwise. Anyone who could keep up with Regulus and Pandora's felony sprees should be feared in Barty's books.)
They were still halfway into Act I— Operation: I think my best friend's brother is Up To Something— and wherever Potter is right now, he should be having his ears peeled.
So at Regulus’ minute nod, they both devolve into furious whispers, making sure to raise their voices at certain words like ‘The Secret’ and ‘The Seven’ and ‘classified’. Barty could hear an audible gasp behind him when Regulus made a vague reference to Zuko and Katara's little adventure with the Southern Raiders— or more accurately, her little bloodbending trick that had him going through six different existential crises at the same time.
Mother of Agni, Reggie's really going for the throat here.
Because taking bloodbending out of context and letting a pureblood wizard-boy hear about how your friend essentially stripped a military commander of his free will with just a few hand gestures makes it sound an awful lot like blood magic. While nothing's wrong with it per se, after spending most of his now-childhood hearing his hardass father talk about the Stygian Laws and similar shit, Barty is intimately familiar with the reputation this certain magic branch has.
Oh, what he would give to see Potter's expression right now.
Pretending to whisper furiously to his friend, Barty drags Reg to the Slytherin dorms— somewhere Potter cannot follow. He couldn't wait for breakfast tomorrow.
—
“Sirius! Your brother is doing dark magic!”
“Woah woah woah— James, where the heck did this come from?”
James nervously looked around, before crouching and frantically whispering something into his best friend's ear.
Sirius squinted. “...what pain potion are you on and where can I get it?”
“Wha— Sirius! I'm serious!!”
“No, I'm pretty sure that's my name, Jamesie. So, potion?”
“I'm telling you Black! Your brother is doing dark magic!!!”
“And I'm a goat. Now, if you're not high on potions, then what weed are you using?”
“I'm not smoking weed!? I'm not high!!”
“Wait— are you doing drugs?!” - Sirius looked horrified, - “James, I get that you believe you lost the love of your life after Evans rejected you— but you're only thirteen!! What in Merlin's saggy balls are you sniffing?! We're going to see Madam Promfrey now!!”
“Wa— Hey— Sirius!!”
—
The school year came and went, much more peaceful this last time around. Pandora was happy, content— she found her family again, she's going to school, and she was fascinated by the intricacies of the British Magic system.
Her brothers and sisters were around her, curled up for one last night around the campfire. The Room was turned into a large, luscious meadow— similar to the one the Gaang used to occupy in Fire Nation territory. Oh, how she missed her husband.
After nearly fourteen years living in this world, with no hide nor hair of Aang, Katara got used to the notion of losing her love all over again. It hurts, it always would— but she has her family behind her.
Her brother, Evan. Her fire, Barty. Her sister, Dorcas. Her annoying and felony-loving little brother, Regulus. Her twin, Lily. And her laboratory henchman, Severus.
They're all she needs.
Katara was under these starry skies, once. Looking up from her place and wondering what would come next of this war.
Now, Pandora stared up at it again, and the answer seems much simpler than before.
All they have to worry about is homework and exams, about what book they need to read next, about what little trick they should pull to mess with Potter again. Life was peaceful, calm.
Nothing like the horrors and fucked-up reality they all saw in the Hundred-Year War. Those worries were about food, politics, battle plans, everything else.
The trauma never left them— not even after a lifetime. But that's okay.
As long as this peace lasts, nothing can drag them down.
She's sure of it.
—
Watching the castle fade as the Hogwarts Express sped away, Regulus let out a loud snore, dozing happily on Barty's shoulder.
“Hey guys?” - Evan spoke up, yawning, - “Do you think we went too far?”
“With Potter?”
“Yeah.”
…
There was a moment of contemplative silence, wherein they all recalled the Gryffindor's panicking face and poorly-hidden eavesdropping. They collectively come to a conclusion.
“Nah.”
And that's that.