She arranged to meet Snape at the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade.
She wanted to know if Snape was like her—regardless of whether he liked little Potter, regardless of whether he truly served the Dark Lord—hoping Potter wouldn't die, whatever the reason.
But Snape couldn't leave Hogwarts. The Dark Lord seemed convinced Harry Potter would return to the school and wanted Snape to guard it well.
He refused Lys's note requesting a meeting.
The Dark Lord's desire to capture Potter grew stronger by the day. Even many businesses in Diagon Alley had been shut down.
The entire British wizarding world was in chaos, everything at a standstill.
Snape sat in the headmaster's office looking extremely impatient at Starlys before him, as if her appearance had disrupted something important.
But if he didn't let Starlys in, Hogwarts's outer protective arrays would keep alerting him as headmaster and the other heads of house. He could only deal with the Lys problem first.
Lys brought up the lily scent on him again, receiving essentially the same reaction as before.
Snape coldly demanded Lys leave—he had more important matters and couldn't waste time with someone whose brain had problems.
However, as Snape walked out, he was fairly certain that his unclear memory from last time had been caused by the woman before him.
Knocking him unconscious and altering his memory so crudely, yet not forgetting to cast protective charms on him—he really didn't know where her brain had gone. Didn't she know he'd notice something was wrong?!
Lys watched Snape's departing figure. She truly didn't know whether his persistent obsession with that Lily Evans could shake his loyalty.
But Snape wasn't like Lucius. She couldn't use ambiguous language to hint at anything to Snape—he was too clever, would easily discover her intention to keep Harry Potter alive. That she'd dared speak so boldly that night could only be attributed to not taking her medication.
She turned to leave, but caught sight of Dumbledore sleeping in his portrait. Lys glanced at the old Black family headmaster in the upper left, obviously listening with perked ears while faking snores.
Lys couldn't hold back. She walked to the portrait and said: "Mr. Grindelwald is dead. I transformed his grave to match yours in style, but according to Gamp's Fifth Law of Transfiguration—the magical material principle—his is black."
Then she began speaking quietly about serious matters: "You were right not to underestimate To-Tom. He'll be the most terrifying person I've ever encountered. I regret not sharing certain secrets with you while you were alive, but now you're dead and Mr. Grindelwald is dead too. I can't even find anyone to ask my questions." Lys stuttered slightly before managing to say that name.
"Each of my decisions seems right, but step by step they've made me into this. Wish me luck, Headmaster. I hope my new decision won't be another thing I regret."
Lys drew her blackthorn wand and showed it off before the sleeping Dumbledore, then left.
After Lys departed, Dumbledore's portrait opened its eyes, seeming to think before remembering something and sighing.
The Black headmaster portrait in the upper left corner curiously questioned Dumbledore's portrait.
"The young person looked familiar. That sound-shielding magic was quite excellent... What did she tell you..."
As Lys left the office, she heard the familiar: "I am goblin-wrought, my armor is exquisite, is it not?" and a muffled voice agreeing. Lys glanced around, then walked toward the corner opposite from her exit route.
Lys peeked around...
Hey! If it wasn't goblin-wrought!
It was exchanging compliments with Sir Cadogan's portrait nearby. The knight who loved mad ravings saw Lys, thought of something, and quickly rode his little pony through the portraits to leave.
Lys said delightedly:
"It really is you! My brother said he couldn't find you at the dungeon corner. Turns out you moved locations. Let me show you something."
Looking left and right, she pulled a long two-handed sword from her waist pouch. "Goblin-wrought. I stole... I mean, extracted it from a pyramid when I was still free."
Lys winked. "How about it? Like it? I've been thinking about it, but Fre... my brother kept saying he couldn't find you, so I didn't give him the sword. That boy likes swinging things to beat people—I was afraid he'd actually slice someone's head off to use as a ball."
Lys placed the sword in the armor's hands, stepped back to look. "Mm, a bit long, but not bad. Our armor still looks so exquisite."
"Yes, I am goblin-wrought. If that is correct, thank you, Black."
Lys's smile froze slightly. She hadn't expected that after so many years since graduation, this armor would still remember that ghost mentioning her surname Black...
"Call me Starlys or Lys."
The exquisitely carved faceplate clanged twice but couldn't produce the correct sound, making Lys want to laugh.
Seeing black robes waiting around the corner for her to leave, Lys hurried to catch up and ask: "Hey! Severus! Can I take this armor? I'll return it in a few days!"
However, Snape's expression was terrible. He impatiently refused, then tried to drive Lys away.
Lys saw "DUMBLEDORE'S ARMY" written in huge letters on the distant wall, with that Carrow she'd tried to make disappear attempting to scrub it off.
Seeing Starlys's expression and gaze become somewhat wrong, Snape blocked her path and shook his head with an admonishing expression.
Lys looked at Snape's head-shaking, admonishing expression and smiled dryly. She glanced toward the corner where the armor stood, hinting to Snape: Give me the armor and I'll leave immediately. But she was still refused.
Walking the path to Hogsmeade, Lys thought about it. Snape was headmaster—dealing with students running around causing trouble in school might not be easy for him, but it definitely wasn't this difficult.
She recalled what Fred had said about the Gryffindors' treatment. Though they all had it rough, none had truly come to harm. Even when they did, Snape ultimately rescued them all.
Even that Longbottom child whose parents were both Aurors—Fred had quietly told Lys that Snape had rescued him too.
And that graffiti—Lys would bet that idiot couldn't clean it off in a day, but Snape could clear it with two spells.
She just didn't know if Snape was fulfilling a headmaster's duties, or...
Accidentally discovering something about Snape's attitude made Lys rather amused. Too bad she hadn't taken the armor, and that idiot wouldn't be leaving Hogwarts anytime soon...
Don't let her catch an opportunity...
The pocket watch drawer still wasn't full...
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