Whispercat: Thanks for letting me know about the other story! I do hope you're enjoying the "real" thing.
Tima: LMAO! D-Diddy. *wipes a tear* I'll have to remember to thank Tess, again, for that little gem. What do you mean, what's Alice going to name her first born? Who says Alice has any children? ;-) Fine, fine. So it's not a mystery. Yes, that's the foreshadowing I was aiming for. I forgot that you'd lost Snake Eyes on the great hacking. Oh, that sucks! It's one of my favorite stories, and I'm not even an H/D shipper!
Sweetkiwi: Thank you! I'm glad you're still along for the ride.
Chapter 13: Lily's Outburst
The following Monday, Frank returned to Hogwarts, looking tired and drawn, but happy to be back. He was given a hardy
welcome by all of Gryffindor house, but everyone carefully stepped around the subject of the disappearance. It was now
widely-known that Frank's dad had disappeared shortly before Christmas. A few weeks prior, the Daily Prophet, the
wizarding newspaper, had published a very small article on page 9 about Alexander Longbottom going missing. According
to the article, he had disappeared while on a fishing expedition, but of course, all but a few of Frank's fellow
first-year Gryffindors knew that this was not the whole story.
Monday night, the girls sat with Frank at a table by a window in the common room, filling him in on the homework that he had missed. Lily was in the middle of a discussion on stitching charms when Alice sighed loudly. Lily glanced up in confusion. "Was something I said incorrect?" she asked.
Alice shook her head. "No," she exclaimed, standing up and walking restlessly over to where Frank was sitting. He looked at her inquisitively.
"What is it, then?" Frank asked.
Alice sat down beside Frank. "It's, well…it's just that everyone's been tip-toeing around this ever since you got back, and I'm not good at all that. I mean, if there's an elephant in the common room, then I'm going to mention it. It's just that no one else has, and I've been trying to be considerate, but I just can't any longer," she paused and flushed a little. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Lily and Amelia exchanged bewildered glances. Elephants in the common room? What on earth was Alice on about?
Frank, however, looked relieved, and he smiled sadly. "You're wondering about my dad," he said quietly.
Alice nodded, and then added. "Yes, but…Well, I'm worried about you, too. We all are." She motioned at Amelia and Lily, who nodded. "This can't be easy for you."
Frank looked at Alice for a moment. "No," he said finally. "It hasn't been. Mum's beside herself with worry, she nearly didn't let me come back to school this term. And to make matters worse, the ministry won't even acknowledge that Dad didn't just disappear. Mum's convinced there's another reason that he disappeared." Frank stopped and looked up at them, his eyes frightened. "She won't tell me what, though…" His voice trailed off.
Alice, Amelia and Lily all looked at him sympathetically. Lily debated whether or not she should tell Frank what she'd overheard on the train. Eventually, Lily decided to keep it to herself for the time being. There were too many people around at the moment, anyway. The risk was too great that they'd be overheard, and Dumbledore had just warned them to be careful where they spoke about such things. She thought she'd probably tell him some other time, though. Somehow she felt that he deserved to know.
"If there's anything that you need, Frank, anything at all," Alice said earnestly, "let us know. We'd be honored to help you."
Amelia nodded. "Even if it's just taking notes because you've gone to visit your mum."
"Gone to visit my mum?" Frank asked, obviously trying to lighten the mood. "Have you gone mad? I've only just escaped!"
The three girls laughed. "Well then," Lily said brightly, turning back to her Charms notes. "Shall we get on with stitching charms, then?"
After Lily, Alice and Amelia had finished catching Frank up on the schoolwork he had missed, the four of them began
working on their Transfiguration homework. Lily was flipping through her text, trying to find an illustration of the
proper wand movement for transfiguring a feather into a feather duster when the Marauders minus Lupin came barreling
into the common room, breathing heavily, their faces flushed, and eyes dancing with delight. Lily scowled and shook her
head, wondering what they had been up to this time. It appeared that Andomeda had the same thought, because she went
striding over to where they were leaning against the wall, trying to catch their breath. "What have the three of
you been doing?" she demanded.
On cue, the expression on all three of their faces turned from delight to innocence. "I'm hurt, Andromeda!" Black began, but she cut him off.
"Don't give me the 'I'm hurt' line, Sirius. I've known you a little too long to buy it. And I know you well enough to recognize when you've been up to something. Why were you three running like the Bloody Baron was after you?" The boys all exchanged glances, but kept their faces determinedly straight.
"We have no idea what you're talking about, Andy," Potter said. Black and Pettigrew nodded quickly.
"We were simply having a race to see who was the fastest," Black added.
"Potter won," Pettigrew piped in.
Andromeda looked as though she'd like nothing better than to give the three of them detention for whatever it was they had done, but as she was unable to find any proof that they had been causing trouble, she settled for a glare. "You boys had better watch yourselves," she said finally, turning and walking away. The three boys immediately burst into laughter as she went.
"You boys had better watch yourselves," Black said in a perfect imitation of Andromeda that sent Pettigrew into gales of laughter. Black glanced at him in bemusement. "I remember when she used to be fun." Pettigrew finally stopped giggling and wiped the tears from his eyes.
"Andromeda used to be fun?" Potter asked, with a sideways glance at Pettigrew. This started Pettigrew howling all over again.
Potter glanced over and caught Lily looking at them. His smile widened, and she quickly looked back at her book, trying to ignore them.
Potter headed over to sit beside Kaylie and Desdamona, and Lily noticed in annoyance that Kaylie immediately started giggling and batting her eyelashes. "Honestly!" Lily thought, "You'd think she's never met a boy before, the way she carries on." She tried to go back to reading, but kept getting distracted by the laughter and noise coming out of the corner where the three boys, Kaylie and Desdamona were sitting.
After she had read the same sentence six times, she'd finally had enough. "Oi, you five!" she hollered, lowering her book and glaring at them. "You want to keep it down? Some of us have homework to do."
Potter turned and grinned at her. "What's the matter, Evans? Transfiguration still not going well for you?"
Lily's glare turned positively icy. "You know, every time I think you might be decent, Potter, you go and prove otherwise," she said in calm, measured tones.
"Oh for Merlin's sake, Evans!" Potter called out, glowering. "It's called a sense of humor. Try using it."
The entire Gryffindor common room had gone quiet and was now watching the exchange. Lily was preparing to retort when Andromeda interrupted. "Knock it off, you two," she said. "Or I will give you both detention. As you pointed out yourself, Lily, people are trying to study." Lily blushed, but Potter continued to glare at her.
"Sorry," Lily mumbled, sitting back down and trying to ignore the looks of shock that Amelia and Alice were giving her.
Potter looked like he wanted to say something, but as Andromeda had now turned her gaze on him, he sat back down. Lily scowled again as she heard Kaylie let out a trill of giggling. "It was obvious it was a joke, Jamesy," she said in a sickeningly sweet voice. For pity's sake! He wasn't THAT cute. She started. What was she thinking? He wasn't cute at all!
Her thoughts were interrupted by Alice. "What in the world was that outburst about, Lily?" she asked.
"Nothing," she said, opening her book. "I'm just sick and tired of him giving me a hard time about Transfiguration."
"Well that's all good and fine, Lily," Amelia said in concern. "But you blew up at him before anyone said anything about Transfiguration. They weren't making that much noise!"
"If you ask me," Frank said, grinning a little, "I think Lily makes it a point to yell at Potter on principle. It's not the first time she's yelled at him for no real reason."
"I don't yell at him for no reason!" she said furiously.
Alice gave Frank a contemplative look. "Do you know, you're right Frank?" she said, ignoring Lily. "That's definitely not the first time. Although I thought the two of you were getting on better since Christmas?"
Lily was still seething. "He is an arrogant git, and I will never get along with him, are we clear? It's just that he was there when I overheard Malfoy talking about Frank's dad, and-," Lily clapped her hands over her mouth in horror as she realized what she'd just said.
Frank looked stunned. "My-my dad?" he asked. "What do you know about my dad, Lily?"
Lily felt the anger flooding out of her, and looked helplessly between Alice and Amelia. They were both watching Frank. Alice moved her hand to his shoulder. "I think maybe you ought to tell him," she said quietly.
Lily looked at Amelia, who nodded. "Okay," she said with a sigh.
Lily proceeded to quietly relate to Frank what she had heard on the train about his Dad. "So it's true, then. What my Mum suspects?" he said in disbelief after she had finished.
They all nodded sadly. "Looks like it," Alice answered.
Frank looked at them, and they could see tears welling up in his eyes. "I've got to…ummm…," He trailed off and stood up.
"Frank," Amelia said, but he waved his hand at her. "I need to be alone," he said, walking towards the portrait hole.
Alice looked at Lily and Amelia as Frank disappeared. "I'm going after him. In this state, he might try to find Malfoy and hex the truth out of him. You two stay here. No reason for all three of us to get in trouble for being out of bounds at this hour."
Lily and Amelia protested, but Alice held up a hand. "I really don't have time to argue with you two right now. Please, stay here. The last thing I need is to worry about the two of you, too."
Lily and Amelia nodded silently. "Good," she said. "I'll be back."
Alice went over to where the boys were sitting. She said something to Potter, and he spoke to Pettigrew, who jumped up and ran toward the boys' dormitory. When he returned, he was carrying a bag that Lily was nearly certain contained Potter's invisibility cloak. Alice grabbed it, and headed out the portrait after Frank.
"Think we should have let her go alone?" Lily asked quietly.
Amelia shrugged. "Dunno. But I don't think we were going to convince her to let us come with. You know how stubborn Alice can be."
Lily nodded. "Right then," she said. "I suppose we'd better get back to our homework."
Amelia agreed, but they were both too distracted with worry about Frank and Alice. After they'd tried to work for half an hour and gotten nowhere, they gave up. Amelia challenged Lily to a game of chess, and they spent the next several hours playing quietly. The common room slowly emptied around them, until only the two of them and the three Marauders remained.
Just as Amelia was beating Lily for the second time, the portrait hole burst open as it had earlier, but for a moment, it looked as though no one was there. Then, Frank's head appeared, and he looked around, terrified. "It's….Alice…," he panted. They all jumped to their feet, quickly getting over their surprise.
"What? What happened?" Lily and Amelia demanded as one.
"They've…outside…" he said.
"No time to talk," Potter said, running toward the portrait hole. "Just show us!"
Frank nodded, and they followed. As soon as they all tumbled out of the portrait hole, Frank headed down the stairs toward the entrance hall. "Wait," Potter called, glancing at Black. "Where are we going?"
"Outside!" Frank panted. "They've got her down by the lake."
Black nodded at Potter. "Follow us," he said, and they turned abruptly and headed toward the suit of armor that was standing opposite the portrait of the fat lady on the landing. Amelia glanced at Lily in curiosity, but she shrugged. She had no idea what they were doing.
"You're wasting time!" Frank called. "They're hurting her!"
"This is faster," Potter assured him.
Black began muttering something to the armor, which stepped aside, revealing an opening in the ground. "Everyone jump in!" he said, disappearing.
Lily glanced apprehensively at Potter, but he was now urging them forward. "Come on! You're wasting time. This is the quickest way out to the lake!"
Deciding that time was far too precious to debate, she sat down on the edge, and felt what appeared to be a very narrow slide at her feet. She shoved off, and began to slide, twisting and turning in total darkness. Her elbows kept bumping against the wall, slowing her down and scraping them painfully before she could finally tuck them in closely at her sides. A couple of times she felt something brush in her hair, and shrieked. As she continued to slide, she could hear Black's laughter ahead of her, and Amelia's screams behind her. Finally, she saw a bit of moonlight at the end of the passage, and landed with a thud on the soft snow. Black reached out a hand and pulled her out of the way, which was lucky, because a few seconds later, Amelia came shooting out of the opening, and landed where Lily had been sitting moments earlier. Lily turned to look at the base of the slide, and was amazed to find that it appeared to be the mouth of a Gargoyle carved into the side of the castle. It occurred to her to wonder briefly how they'd discovered that passage, but before she could ask, Pettigrew had shot out, followed closely by Frank and Potter. They headed toward the lake, Frank in the lead.
The moon was full, and shone brightly on the blanket of snow which had covered Hogwarts since December. The brightness proved to be a double-edged sword. It was very easy for them to spot Alice and her captors, but it also meant that it was going to be very difficult indeed to creep up on them, unnoticed. As they approached, they could hear laughter, along with Alice's voice, which sounded terrified. They paused in the shelter of a tree, and Lily could see three figures off to the right of them, forming a circle. "First thing's first. Who are we facing? Who's got Alice?" Potter asked quickly.
Frank's voice trembled as he answered. "Bellatrix, LeStrange and Snape," he said quietly. The three Marauders fairly growled as Frank answered. "Alice had come to find me. We talked for awhile, and then I told her that I really needed some time by myself, and to get back upstairs before she got into trouble. She left, but left this cloak with me-," and for the first time, Lily realized that Frank had the invisibility cloak with him, "so I didn't get into trouble when I came back, and as I was coming inside, I saw them by the lake, and Alice was…screaming, and…I hope she's okay. I should never have left her."
Potter put his hand on Frank's arm. "You did the right thing, Frank. You couldn't have helped her by yourself."
Black nodded. "Okay, so there are only three of them. The four of us should be able to take them without a problem, but they know more hexes than we do, particularly Snape, so we've got to surprise them. Is anyone here besides Jamesy and I experienced in dueling?" Lily and Amelia shook their heads, but Frank nodded yes. Pettigrew half nodded and half shook his head no.
"I know what you and Sirius have taught me," he squeaked.
"Okay, here's what we're going to do, then," Potter said, taking over. "Sirius, you take Amelia and circle around to the other side, follow the trail that leads right down to the shore. Crawl along the shore, and come up to the left of where they are right now, right across from us. The embankment there is steep, so it should hide you from view until we're ready to attack. Do you have your mirror?" Black nodded. "Good, I'll call you when we're in place." Black turned and headed down towards the embankment, motioning for Amelia to follow him. They began to walk quietly toward the shore, taking care to stay within the shadows of the trees.
Potter watched them for a moment, and then turned back to Lily, Pettigrew and Frank. "Lily, you stay with me. We're going to go after them from this side. Frank and Peter, we need you to create a diversion, draw them off to the left, toward where we'll be waiting. We don't want Alice getting caught in the crossfire. She's already bad off from the sounds of it." Lily winced at this, and he paused to look at her, and then squeezed her shoulder. "She's going to be all right," he said reassuringly before turning back to Pettigrew and Frank. "You two will need to use my cloak so that you can get up real close to them."
Pettigrew's face looked pale, but he followed Frank under the cloak and disappeared. Two sets of footsteps appeared in the snow trailing away from Lily and Potter. That was no good, Lily thought, suddenly panicked. The Slytherins were bound to notice that, and it'd lead them straight to her and Potter. "Frank, Peter, just a second" she whispered frantically. "Come here."
The footsteps doubled back and stopped just in front of her. "Take off the cloak for a minute." Frank and Peter appeared in front of her again, and she pointed her wand at Frank's shoes. "Caelum Adambulo," Lily said, swishing her wand in a wide arc, and then repeating the process with Pettigrew. "There, that should keep you from making footprints in the snow."
Potter stared at her in astonishment. "I learned it when I was looking through all of those ancient charm texts," Lily explained. "You'd better get going, you two. Sirius and Amelia are probably in position by now." Lily said another charm that wiped the snow clean of their old footprints, and she noted in satisfaction that no more appeared as they walked away.
Potter stared after Frank and Pettigrew and shook his head. "Bloody brilliant," he said, before turning back to her. "Right. Once Frank and Pete draw Bellatrix, LeStrange and Snape away from Alice, Pete, Sirius, Frank and I will surround them. I want you to go to Alice and get her out of here. If she's okay, then take her back up to Gryffindor, and try to avoid the main hall so you don't get caught. If she's not, then you and Amelia will need to get her up to the hospital wing. Do not, under either circumstance, wait around to make sure that the four of us are okay, all right? You and Amelia don't have any dueling experience, and Alice won't be in any state to help us fight. The last thing any of us needs is all three of you hurt. Just get her out of here at the earliest opportunity. Do you understand?"
Lily nodded, slightly irritated by the way that he was bossing her around, but too relieved that they were going to get Alice to safety to say anything. "Good." He reached into his robes and pulled out the same mirror he'd used the night they'd had detention. "Sirius," he said, and once again Sirius's head appeared. "Here's what we're going to do." As he was explaining the plan to Sirius, Lily noticed that Bellatrix, Snape and LeStrange had stopped laughing, and were now creeping toward the trees off to the left. They had left Alice where they had been standing, and Lily had to stifle a scream as she realized that Alice was lying there, motionless.
"Looks like Peter and Frank have distracted them," she said thickly to Potter, who looked up.
"Ready, Sirius?" he asked. She heard Sirius bark yes. "Okay, on three. One, two, three!" Lily took off toward where Alice was laying, and saw Amelia charging up the bank toward Alice from the opposite direction. She caught a brief glimpse of the four boys encircling Bellatrix, LeStrange and Snape, but her attention was soon focused entirely on Alice. She was bleeding from several different cuts on her face, her robes were torn, and she was curled up into a ball on the ground. Lily dropped to her knees and called out, "Alice? Alice? Are you awake?"
No answer came, so Amelia tried talking to her. "Alice? We need to get you back up to the hospital. If you can help us, please tell us. Can you stand up?" The only answer was a low moan. Amelia glanced at Lily. "We have to get her upstairs," she said quickly.
Lily looked around. The two of them couldn't very well carry her by themselves. Oh! Why hadn't they learned how to conjure things yet? A stretcher would come in handy. "Do you have any ideas how to get her out of here?" she asked.
Amelia's face screwed up in thought. "I think if we both did wingarium leviosa it would be powerful enough to levitate her, and we might be able to float her upstairs."
Lily clapped her hands together. "Great idea. On three, then. One, two, three. WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" they said, and Alice floated slowly off the ground. Lily glanced over her shoulder toward the fight that was going on between the Gryffindors and the Slytherins, and saw two figures huddled on the ground, but she couldn't discern who they were. Part of her wanted to go help the boys out, but she remembered Potter telling her that it was up to her and Amelia to get Alice to safety. "Concentrate on the spell," Lily said, making up her mind. She would do as Potter had suggested, and get Alice to Madam Pomfrey. She and Amelia each grabbed onto Alice's robes with their free hands, taking care to keep their wands pointed at her. "We need to get her out of here, now!" she said, not looking back as they headed toward the castle, Alice floating along behind them.
The girls made their way into the castle quietly, trying to stay out of the main stairwell, as that seemed the most
likely place to run into a prefect or professor. Unfortunately, avoiding the main hall also meant that it took them
considerably longer to make their way to the hospital wing than it otherwise would have. Alice was still more or less
unconscious, which turned out to be a blessing, as she was very quiet. Fortunately, they didn't run into any
authority figures, and finally arrived at the hospital wing, panting and out of breath from running the last few
hundred yards. They knocked quietly on the door to the infirmary, and it swung open shortly. Madam Pomfrey stood there,
dressed impeccably as always in her nursing robes. "Can I help you girls?" she asked before seeing Alice
floating behind them. Her expression changed to one of outrage. "Let her down, you silly girls. What have you
done?" she asked, conjuring a stretcher on to which Lily and Amelia lowered Alice.
"We didn't do anything, Madam," Amelia began, but Madam Pomfrey waved her explanation away.
"Never mind, I'll need to do a thorough diagnosis. You two WAIT HERE. I'll be wanting to speak to you about this after I treat her." She began to float the stretcher after her into the hospital ward, but turned around abruptly. "Are there any others coming?"
Lily and Amelia looked at one another uncertainly. "Um…there might be, Madam," Lily finally answered.
Madam Pomfrey made a noise that sounded suspiciously like a growl, and disappeared into the hospital room with Alice. Amelia and Lily sat in silence for a moment, both trying not to think of what was happening outside. Lily felt confident that the four boys could take on Bellatrix, LeStrange and Snape, but who was to say that there weren't more Slytherins on the way? But that was ridiculous. After all, the Slytherins had obviously not expected a rescue party for Alice. Or had they? Had they seen Frank slipping under the invisibility cloak and somehow called for reinforcements? As had become her habit whenever she was feeling scared or stressed, Lily slipped her hand into her pocket, and grasped the locket that her father had given her before she had arrived at Hogwarts. She did not have a chain for it, but she kept it with her at all times as a tangible reminder of home. As she felt herself start to relax, a sudden vision came to Lily of the four boys being ambushed by older Slytherins. Crabbe was hitting Potter with some curse that doubled him over in pain. Sirius was on the ground, three older Slytherins surrounding him, kicking him. Frank and Pettigrew were surrounded by a group that appeared to be led by Malfoy. Frank was shouting something she couldn't hear. Off to the side stood Bellatrix, Snape and LeStrange, bruised but smiling…
"Lily?" Amelia was fairly screaming. Lily opened her eyes and realized that she had fallen off of her chair, and was now lying on the ground. She sat up abruptly and looked around wildly.
"The boys!" she said, standing up so quickly that she nearly knocked over Amelia, who had been leaning over her. She had to go tell the boys. But what about Alice? She couldn't just leave her. But then, Alice was with Madam Pomfrey now, so there was little else she could do, and someone needed to warn the boys. Lily decided, and headed toward the door. "I have to warn them! They're going to be ambushed!" Lily pulled the door open and ran out. Amelia called after her, but Lily didn't stop. She had to get to them; had to warn them. The Slytherins were on their way. Lily didn't pause to think how she knew this, how she could be so certain. She just ran as fast as her legs could carry her, up the corridor to the main stairs, down the steps two at a time, not caring this time if someone saw her, only knowing that she had to get down to the lake as quickly as she could. She reached the main entrance and ran out the door, down the stone steps, and made for the lake. "Let me be in time," she prayed. "Just let me make it on time."
As Lily drew nearer to the lake, she could see the fighting that was taking place. Pettigrew was huddled on the ground. He appeared to be in pain, but otherwise okay. Frank was circling LeStrange. LeStrange looked bruised, but she could hear him taunting Frank. "Your family's worthless, Longbottom. Muggle-loving fools, the lot of them! You couldn't hurt me if you tried!" Lily noticed with a small thrill that LeStrange no longer appeared to have his wand.
Longbottom laughed. "You're pathetic, LeStrange. You don't even have your wand right now. I could have Pettigrew come over here and curse you, and he'd best you. In fact, I should do that. I'd love to see a LeStrange bested by a muggle born." Frank motioned to Pettigrew, who struggled painfully to his feet. "Come on, Petey. You can take this loser!"
Pettigrew raised his wand. "Petrificus Totalus!" he roared. LeStrange ducked out of the way, but he was too slow. Pettigrew's spell hit him, and he went instantly stiff, and toppled to the ground.
Frank high-fived Pettigrew and walked over to where LeStrange was lying on the ground. "Yet another reason blood means nothing, LeStrange. Someday you'll learn that." He turned back to Peter. "Nice curse, Petey. Now shall we help James and Sirius?" Lily looked around and saw James and Sirius both fighting Snape.
They had apparently been hit with a few hexes, as Potter's face bore the unmistakable evidence of someone who had been hit with a twitching curse. His eyes blinked, his eyebrows went up and down, and his ears and nose twitched at random intervals. Black scarcely looked better. He was half-bent over, and seemed to be sprouting some sort of plant out of the top of his head. Snape wasn't in any better condition, though. From the looks of things, someone had landed a jelly legs curse, and from his black eye, one of the boys had also landed a punch. He was still holding his own, however. At the moment, every curse the two Gryffindors were throwing at Snape, he was managing to block, so they had to keep diving out of the way of the rebound. After Potter dove out of the way of his latest curse, he stood up, and the three boys began circling warily, Black doing everything he could to stand upright.
Snape yelled out "Serpensortia" and an adder flew out of his wand and landed, hissing, in front of Potter and Black. For a moment, they both stared at him in shock, and then began to step away. "Where did you learn that one, Snivellus?" Potter asked, as he walked slowly backward.
Black kept his wand on the snake. "Any ideas, mate?" he asked, still edging backward.
Potter shook his head, also pointing his wand at the snake. "None. I don't think I've learned any hexes that work on snakes."
Snape laughed. "What's the matter?" he said menancingly. "I thought Gryffindors were supposed to be brave? You're an embarrassment to your house, the two of you!" Potter snarled and raised his wand to Snape. "Go on then," Snape said, in a bored sounding voice. "I'll just block it again, and maybe when you dive out of the way of the rebound, you'll fall right into the path of the adder. They're Britain's only poisonous snake, you know," he said with a chuckle. "At least, the only poisonous snake that muggles know about."
At that moment, a voice yelled out, "Petrificus serpens!" The snake froze and fell to the ground like LeStrange had earlier. Snape, Potter and Black all turned in astonishment to see Pettigrew standing there, his wand still pointing at the snake.
"Where'd you learn that one, Petey?" Potter asked as Snape turned his wand toward Pettigrew. Before he could do anything, however, Frank yelled out, "Expelliarmus!" and Snape went flying backwards, his wand flying out of his hand.
"Don't move, Snape," he said in a low voice. "It's four against one. We'd knock you out before you could even get to your wand." Snape glared from his position on the ground, but did as he was told. Frank turned to Pettigrew. "See, I told you that you could do it!" Pettigrew, who looked more amazed than anyone, was slowly turning his wand in his hand, looking at it as though this was the first time he'd ever seen it.
"Where's Bellatrix?" Black asked as Lily reached the trees where they had hidden earlier. She was just about to run into the clearing and warn them to get out of there when ten figures stepped out of the shadows on the other side, led by none other than Lucius Malfoy.
"You lot! Get back to our common room now," Malfoy's voice said. "You're a disgrace to the name of Slytherin, losing a duel with four lousy Gryffindors. But don't worry. We shall restore Slytherin's honor." Snape unfroze LeStrange, and the three first-years began to walk toward the castle. As soon as Malfoy turned his gaze back to the Gryffindors, however, the three younger Slytherins paused and turned to watch the proceedings. The nine remaining Slytherins turned and encircled the four Gryffindors. "We shall teach you some respect, yet," Malfoy spat. "You!" he said, glaring at Pettigrew. "Do you not know that a Gryffindor should always fall to his knees in the presence of a Slytherin? Well, go on then. Kneel!" Pettigrew looked like he was going to comply, but Potter grabbed his arm and stopped him. "I wouldn't listen to your friend if I were you, boy!" he said, "You'll kneel!" He pointed his wand at Pettigrew and muttered something. Pettigrew fell to his knees with a cry. The other Slytherins laughed. Lily thought frantically. This was only the beginning. She knew what was going to happen. She had to help. But what could she do? If she ran out there right now, she would just be giving them a fifth person to torture. She looked around frantically as Frank rounded on Malfoy. "Let him up!" Frank said, glaring. "Let him up now!" Pettigrew was still howling in pain.
Malfoy and the other Slytherins laughed. Then Malfoy tapped his chin. "You're Alexander Longbottom's son, aren't you?" Frank's face went pale, and Malfoy grinned. "No wonder he ran away. I'd leave my family too, if I had a brat like you for a son!"
Frank was now breathing heavily. "My father did not leave us!" he fairly shouted. "You know bloody well that he was taken for a reason!"
Malfoy glared. "What do you know about your father being taken, boy?" he asked, the amusement gone from his voice.
Potter grabbed Frank's arm and whispered something. Frank nodded. "Just what we've been able to guess, Malfoy. My family isn't quite as stupid as you believe us to be. We know my father's job makes him a target to those interested in ancient magic."
Malfoy peered at him for a moment then gazed around the circle. "I've had enough talking," he said, and the other Slytherins chuckled. "Fire away, boys!"
Lily looked around frantically. Off in the distance, she saw light flooding out the window of a snow-covered cabin. She took off running. When she arrived, she pounded on the door. The giant-man that had led them across the lake on the first night answered. "Hagrid!" she cried, relieved.
He looked confused. "Who're yeh and why're ye ou' this late?"
Lily felt her heart thudding with fear and hesitated. She had no idea if this man would help her. For all she knew, he could be dangerous. She took a deep breath. She had no choice, though. He was her only hope. "I'm Lily Evans, sir. I'm a first year Gryffindor. And I'm out this late because four of my classmates are being attacked by older Slytherins. I-,"
Hagrid's eyes grew round. "Then wha' are we standin' aroun' here talkin' fer?" He grabbed his umbrella and walked out of the house. "Where are they?" he asked.
"By the lake," Lily answered, and he turned and began striding toward the lake, Lily running to keep up with him. She wondered vaguely why on earth he'd grabbed his umbrella. The sky was perfectly clear; there was no rain in sight.
"Hey, yeh lot!" Hagrid called out when they arrived in the clearing. The scene looked exactly as Lily had pictured it upstairs. Potter was doubled over, gasping, and Crabbe was standing in front of him, laughing. Three Slytherins were standing over Black, kicking him. Frank and Pettigrew were surrounded, and Frank was shouting at Malfoy, who was pointing his wand at him and warning him to be quiet. "Yeh best leave these young 'uns alone. Malfoy, yeh ough' ter be ashamed o' yerself, duelin' firs' years!" The Slytherins looked up at Hagrid, and began laughing.
"You have no authority over us, Hagrid!" Malfoy snickered.
Hagrid grinned, but it wasn't the friendly smile that he'd given the first years on their first night at Hogwarts. "Yer righ' abou' that, Malfoy," Hagrid agreed. "But as yeh may know, I get on well wit' Dumbledore, and I'm sure he'd be int'rested in findin' out why yeh were outta bed so late, and why yeh were beatin' up these firs' years." Malfoy's face paled, but he didn't say anything. Hagrid chuckled, as Lily and the other Gryffindors ran over to where Black was lying on the ground. "Tha's what I thought," he said, pointing his umbrella at the Slytherins. "Accio wands," he said. Lily glanced up in surprise as the Slytherins wands all went flying toward him, and he caught them easily in his large hand. So that's why Hagrid had thought his umbrella necessary for this evening. "Now, yeh'll be comin' wit' me ter speak ter Dumbledore. I hope he expels yeh lot fer this."
Lily turned to Hagrid in alarm. "Hagrid, no! You can't!" she said. She heard Potter and Frank echo the same sentiments on either side of her.
Hagrid's kind eyes turned to her in confusion. "I have ter," he said gently. "I can' jus' let these uns' get away wit' all o' this."
"But you have to, Hagrid!" she urged. "If you take them to Dumbledore, we'll get into trouble just the same. He might even expel us, too!"
"Lily's right, Hagrid!" Frank said. "It's my fault everyone's even out here tonight. If I hadn't run out of the common room, Alice never would have followed me, and then we wouldn't have had to come out after her!"
Hagrid looked troubled for a moment, and then sighed. "All righ'," he agreed before turning back to the Slytherins. "I won' take yeh to Dumbledore. But I will tell yeh tha' if yeh try somethin' like this again, Dumbledore will be the least o' yer concerns. Now go on, get back ter yer common room, all o' yeh! And Malfoy, I'll be havin' a talk wit' Dumbledore about yeh abusin' yer prefect's badge." The Slytherins glared menancingly at Hagrid but began walking toward the castle.
"What about our wands?" a Slytherin that Lily didn't know asked.
"Yeh'll get 'em when I've decided yeh've earned 'em," Hagrid said, and then walked over to where Black was lying on the snow. "Come on, yeh four. We need ter get yer friend here up to Madam Pomfrey." He reached down and picked Black up easily, and then followed the Slytherins toward the castle.
When they arrived at the hospital wing, Madam Pomfrey came out, tutting loudly about foolish fighting, and levitated Black onto a stretcher before motioning for the other boys to follow her. "You three look like you need some attention too, once I get Mr. Black taken care of. Follow me. You two," she added, rounding on Lily and Amelia, "get back to your dorms. These four will be just fine, and you can't do anything else for Miss Parker right now."
Amelia sighed warily. "Yes Madam," she said as Madam Pomfrey disappeared.
Lily turned to Hagrid. "Thanks for helping me out down there," she said, her voice shaking from all that had gone on that night.
Hagrid smiled kindly at her. "I was glad ter help," he said, before turning and exiting the infirmary.
Amelia smiled weakly at Lily, but didn't say anything as they walked back to Gryffindor tower, under cover of the invisibility cloak that Frank had handed to Lily as they walked back up to the castle. When they arrived at the common room, they went upstairs, and warily got ready for bed. Lily finally broke the silence. "How's Alice?" she asked quietly.
Amelia sighed. "Madam Pomfrey said she's going to be all right, though she'll need to spend the next week or two in hospital." She looked at Lily as though she wanted to ask her something, but couldn't.
Lily smiled. "You want to know how I knew about the ambush?" she asked. Amelia blushed and nodded. Lily shrugged. "I have no idea," she said truthfully. "I just knew."
Lily sat down on her bed, and felt something tickle her hand. She looked down and noticed that there were feathers all over her bed. Her pillows had been cut open and the contents dumped everywhere. She pulled back her covers, and saw that her sheets were several feet to short, and when she let down the curtains of her four-poster, she saw that they were flashing "Marauders Rule! Princesses Drool!" She looked at Amelia's bed, and then at Alice's. Both looked much like her own. They couldn't see Kaylie's and Desdamona's beds, as both had their curtains drawn, but their curtains had not been bewitched, so it was likely that they had been left untouched. "Looks like we can stop worrying about them getting us back for the pillow fight," Amelia said with a small grin. Lily started laughing, and Amelia joined her.
"Shh!" Kaylie said angrily. They grinned at each other, and began cleaning up quietly. Lily performed a lengthening charm on the sheets and Amelia repaired the pillows with the stitching charm they'd just learned. They couldn't figure out the countercharm to make the curtains stop flashing, however, so they decided to leave them for the night. After they'd finished with their own beds, they cleaned up Alice's.
"I wonder how they managed to do it?" Amelia asked, lying down in her bed. "I mean, without being able to get into the girls' dormitory and all."
Lily sank gratefully into her own bed. "I dunno," she said truthfully, crawling under her covers and laying down. "But as soon as they get out of the hospital, I'm going to kill them."