Sweetkiwi: Well, I'm afraid there's a few chapters to go before you find out the end result of the bet! I'm happy you enjoyed the results of the Amos prank. That was fun to write.
Tima: I'm glad you enjoyed that. It was difficult (but fun) to write. I was stuck on the prank for ages. I'm a Lily at heart, not a marauder at heart, and it took me awhile to come up with some clever ideas. I think you're right that James is very much hoping that Lily beats him on that Transfiguration exam. Lily, on the other hand, is hoping she doesn't so he leaves her alone! It's probably the first time Lily has ever not wanted to get the best score on an exam. Regarding Kaylie, that will be addressed in the next update.
Sirius4ever: Lol-no trust in James, then? J
Kieffer: "kinda" being the operative word. But it's the most direct he's been with her, for certain.
Chapter 18: In the Hands of the Enemy
The Transfiguration exam came and went, and Lily had to admit that she had done better than she would have without
Potter's help. Before she knew it, she was waking up Saturday morning, and getting ready to go down to the Great
Hall for a quick bite to eat before she, Alice, Amelia, Kaylie and Desdamona headed out to the quidditch pitch for the
game. The girls all headed down the stairs when something made Lily pause. "I'll be right back," she
said, turning and jogging back up the stairs. When she got to her room, she approached her nightstand, and opened the
drawer, lifting out a variety of papers and assorted items as she did so. At the bottom of the drawer, where she had
kept it since the first night they'd found it, she saw the parchment from the stolen text.
Lily picked it up and glanced at it, then without thinking, placed it carefully in her pocket, before heading back down to the common room. When the girls arrived in the Great Hall, they saw the Gryffindor team huddled at one end of the table, and not wanting to interrupt them, the five girls chose seats at the other end. Lily was somewhat surprised that Kaylie was sitting with them, and not with Potter, who, along with Frank and the other Marauders, was sitting somewhere towards the middle. "We broke up," she explained, apparently noticing Lily's curiosity. "Last night."
"Oh," Lily said, taken aback. "I'm sorry."
Kaylie shrugged. "I'm not. It was getting to be too much to pretend that I liked him all the time, and the guy that I really want barely noticed anyway…" She trailed off and began eating her eggs. Lily and Desdamona both rolled their eyes.
"Too complicated," Lily said, starting on her breakfast.
"I quite agree," Desdamona concurred, taking a sip of pumpkin juice.
After breakfast, the girls headed out to the pitch, hoping to get good seats by arriving early. Alice wanted to try-out for a chaser position next year, and she was planning to analyze the Gryffindor keeper's every move to find weaknesses that she could exploit during her try-out in the fall. The weather, which had been sunny and warm throughout exam week, had turned windy and cold, and the skies that morning were threatening an early summer thunderstorm. As they had done at the first Gryffindor quidditch match of the season, the girls brought along a large Gryffindor blanket, and Lily charmed it to stay warm against the cold. They found seats next to Frank. He had come out early to save seats for the Marauders, who were otherwise unaccounted for at the moment.
The girls sat down, huddling into the blanket to stay warm, and talking about how well they thought they'd done on their exams, the upcoming summer vacation, and, in the case of Kaylie and Amelia, who were going on about Lupin and some mystery guy that Kaylie refused to name, boys. Before long, the team had arrived on the field. "I wonder where the Marauders got off to?" Frank said as Madam Alipes was blowing her whistle to start the game.
The Marauders absence was explained a few minutes after Gryffindor had scored for the first time, when they arrived in the stands, pockets bulging with Honeydukes candy. Lupin presented Amelia with some chocolate, which she happily accepted, and when Black started to tease him about it, he quickly offered some to the other four girls as well. Potter also offered Lily some candy, but after noticing the glint in his eye, she declined politely. Potter then offered it to Lupin, Black and Pettigrew. "If Evans isn't daft enough to take it," Black said with a laugh, "what makes you think we are?"
Potter looked a little disappointed, but tossed the candy out. "It was worth a try, anyway," he said with a grin.
Lily turned her attention back to the game, trying to ignore Potter. He was once again jumping up and down and shouting at the Gryffindor keeper, chasers and seeker, apparently certain that given the chance, he could play all three positions better than the existing models. Also as before, Pettigrew kept chirping in agreement every time Potter made a comment. Neither teams' seeker was having very much success finding or catching the snitch in the windy weather, and as the game wore into its third hour, the score was 180-150 Gryffindor. Gryffindor's seeker went into another steep dive, a streak of gold barely visible out in front of him, but he pulled up as the gold disappeared. "You have to lean into your dive more!" Potter shouted, standing up. "LEAN IN!"
"You could have had that Ja-," Pettigrew began.
"James and Peter, if you don't shut your mouths, I'm going to have Evans put a silencing charm on the both of you!"
Lily gasped and turned around to stare at Black, a feeling of déjà vu hitting her so forcefully that she felt like she had been punched. "Is something wrong, Lils?" Amelia asked her.
Lily shook her head, trying to gather her thoughts. She was being ridiculous, of course. It was just a coincidence. "No," she said finally, returning her attention to the game.
About an hour later, Lily felt a tug on her coat, and turned to see Potter giving her a goofy grin. Her eyes widened in horror as she realized that she had never told Potter about Mr. Parker's response to their letter. "Don't ask me about the parchment!"
"How did you know I-?" he started, clearly bewildered.
"Don't say it!" she said again, her voice growing louder. All of the Gryffindor first years save Alice, who was too engrossed in watching Gryffindor's keeper to notice anything at the moment, were now staring at her, concern etched in their eyes. She didn't care. "Because if you say it, that will mean that it wasn't just a dream and-"
Apparently Alice had finally heard Lily, but hadn't noticed the note of panic in her voice, and just assumed that she and Potter were arguing, as usual. "Can you two give it a rest, just for the game, even?" she snapped.
"Stop!" Lily cried, practically screaming now. She turned to the field, watching. "And now she dives," she said quietly.
"Lily, what are you-," but the Ravenclaw seeker had gone into a spectacular dive and snatched the snitch out from underneath the outstretched hand of Gryffindor's seeker. As the students in the Ravenclaw section erupted in cheers, and the Gryffindors around Lily groaned loudly, their attention drawn once again to the match, she turned numbly toward the Slytherin section, her eyes scanning the stands.
What happened next came as a complete shock to everybody but Lily. A hulking, shadowy figure appeared over the Slytherin section. "The Dark Lord now has the tools that he will need to be immortal," a strangely magnified voice said, echoing in the now-silent stadium. "Choose your side carefully. You have been warned." Something clicked in Lily's head, and her mind began racing so fast that she could hardly keep up with her thoughts. Lily barely heard Dumbledore telling the students to follow the prefects back to their houses, and was only dimly aware of the screams and cries now echoing around her. She turned automatically to where Andromeda and Joshua were standing, shooting off sparks to attract the attention of the Gryffindor students.
Lily reached up and pulled Potter's hand off of her shoulder, utterly unsurprised to find it there, and barely noticing the look that he gave her as she did so. Wishing that she would again wake up to find that this was all a dream, she walked toward the prefects, her mind still working overtime. Lily had finally realized what it was that she had been trying to remember since she'd had this very dream, and she was now busily putting the puzzle pieces together in her mind. She reached into her robes and gripped her wand tightly, but did not draw it. Andromeda and Joshua led the Gryffindors toward the castle, the Ravenclaws up ahead of them, and the Hufflepuffs behind. Once they had gotten through the main entrance door, Lily slipped quietly to the back of the Gryffindor group. When they reached the staircase, she slipped unnoticed into line with the Hufflepuffs, and headed with them toward the basement.
Apparently all of the Hufflepuffs were too shell-shocked to notice that a Gryffindor was now walking along with them,
for nobody said anything to her as they descended to the basement. They reached a divide in the hallway, and when the
Huffflepuffs turned one way to head toward their common room, Lily turned the other, toward the kitchen, thanking the
quirk of fate that had brought her down here one cold winter's day with Alice and Amelia. Her mind continued to
race. Muggle legends of elves usually told of them being immortal… Dumbledore's book had been written in ancient
elvish… The figure at the Slytherin match had referred to immortality… It couldn't be a coincidence. And
Frank's dad studied ancient magic. He'd probably learned about the ancient rituals, which was why the dark
wizard would have wanted him… Lily arrived at the portrait that was the entrance to the kitchen, and reached up and
tickled the pear, feeling nervously for the piece of parchment and marveling at the instinct that had driven her to
bring it with her this morning. If she'd had to go up to Gryffindor's common room to get it before speaking
with Alfie, she'd never have been able to leave. Andromeda and Joshua were bound to be very strict about keeping
students within bounds today.
As she grabbed the handle that had appeared, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and screamed. Lily whirled around to see James Potter standing there, concern etched over his usually grinning face. "What in the world do you think you're doing, sneaking off by yourself to the kitchens at a time like this?" he asked her. "You're lucky that I wasn't Malfoy or someone!"
Lily inhaled deeply, trying not to get too angry that James Potter, of all people, was lecturing HER about sneaking around the castle when she ought to be in the common room. "I just realized something about the parchment," she explained, trying to stay calm. "I have to talk to Alfie. If I'd gone up to the common room and waited like a good little girl, I'd never have gotten the chance. Now go back upstairs."
"No, no way I'm leaving you alone right now. Are you mad?"
Lily grit her teeth. "Potter, I don't have time to argue with you right now-"
"Then stop arguing," he said firmly. "I'm not leaving. Remember what Dumbledore said."
Lily glared at him, but turned and pulled the door open without saying another word. They walked into the kitchens, and were greeted very warmly by the house-elves. Alfie approached Lily, grinning broadly and bowing politely. "Alfie is happy to see you again, Miss Evans. Will you be liking some more food?"
Potter looked at her in shock. "More food? You've been down here before, Evans?"
Lily ignored him. "Actually, I was hoping that I could talk to you about-," she glanced up and noticed that all of the house elves in the kitchen had stopped working and were watching her intently. She lowered her voice. "About something. Is there some place that we could speak which is more…private?"
Alfie grinned. "Alfie will take care of it, miss," he said and then turned and ambled over to the nearest elf. He whispered something, and then the elf that he had spoken to nodded, and shouted something in a language that Lily did not understand. The elves immediately turned and went back to work, ignoring Lily and Potter completely. Alfie returned. "They won't bothers us again, Miss," he said with a smile.
Lily squatted down so that she was eye-level with Alfie. "In muggle legends, elves are immortal. Are the muggles correct about this? Are you immortal?"
Alfie shook his head slowly. "No, miss," Alfie said sadly. "House-elves do live longer than most people, muggle and wizard alike, but we is not immortal."
"Oh," Lily said, trying to hide her disappointment. She had been so certain that Alfie would be able to help her.
"According to our legends, miss, our ancestors performed magical ceremonies that would assure them of never-ending life," Alfie continued. "It is said that the magic is written down in ancient books," Alfie laughed a high-pitched laugh. "These are the stories we tell young house-elves before we puts them to bed, anyway, but beggin' your pardon miss, there is no truth to them."
"Are you sure about that, Alfie?" Potter asked, apparently figuring out where Lily was going with her questions.
"'Twas wood elves who is said to have that knowledge," Alfie explained. "They's extinct now. So if they's extinct, they wasn't immortal."
Lily had to admit that Alfie had a point. Still, Dumbledore's book had been written in ancient Elvish, so there was a chance. She pressed on. "Professor Dumbledore has a book," she began, "that is written in ancient Elvish. It's said that only he and one other wizard know how to speak it-"
She stopped as Alfie nodded. "Yes, miss. Professor Dumbledore and Tom Riddle is the only wizards that can speak ancient Elvish."
Lily stared at Alfie. "Tom Riddle is the other one?" she asked. "And how do you know?"
Alfie's chest swelled proudly. "Professor Dippet-who is headmaster before Professor Dumbledore-asked Alfie to teach Mister Riddle. Mister Riddle is very interested in learning everything he could about elves, miss, and Hogwarts doesn't offers a class on Elvish history."
Lily and Potter exchanged a glance. "Can you read ancient Elvish?" Lily asked, barely daring to hope.
"Yes, miss. Alfie's mum taught him."
Potter looked over at Lily. "Too bad that we don't have the parchment with us," he said, as Lily pulled it out of her pocket.
Potter looked stunned. "Where did that come from?"
Lily shrugged. "Something told me to bring it to the game this morning," she said dismissively. "Can you read this?" She handed Alfie the parchment.
He began reading it, his eyes growing more and more round with each passing minute. "Where did sir and miss get this?" he asked finally, glancing up.
"We found it," Lily said.
"Can you tell us what it says?" Potter asked.
Alfie glanced at them. "Let Alfie read it one more time, sir." They waited quietly while Alfie re-read the parchment. "This is from the legendary book of life," Alfie said, his tone awed. "It's the last step. The last step in the ceremony. Alfie is being sure that this book is just a myth, but here is the last step." Alfie looked down and began reading again. "The legend is true," he said, appearing to have forgotten that they were standing there.
Lily suddenly realized what Alfie had just said. "This is the last step of the ceremony?" Lily asked. Alfie nodded. "Then they can't do it if they don't have it?"
Alfie again nodded. "The protection from death is not being complete without it," he said. "The whole process is taking months to do. Dumbledore is wanting his page back if he is trying to become immortal, miss."
"No, Alfie," Lily began, "it's not Dumbledore that wants it-,"
But Potter interrupted her. "Thanks Alfie," he said, standing up and grabbing Lily's hand. "We have to get back to our common room. They'll be wondering where we are."
As Potter tugged her quickly toward the exit of the kitchen, Lily glanced at Potter, and knew that he was thinking the same thing that she was. They had to destroy that paper, and quickly. If this dark wizard succeeded in becoming immortal, there was nothing on this earth that could stop him from destroying the wizarding world, and it looked as though they were the only two people at the moment with the power to stop that from happening. "Are sir and miss wanting any food?" Alfie asked as they opened the kitchen door.
"No. Thank you for all of your help, Alfie!" Lily called out as they walked back into the hallway.
"I just have to grab my invisibility cloak," Potter said, walking over to a nearby statue, and glancing behind it. "Hang on, where'd it go? I thought I left it behind this one."
"Looking for this?" a drawling voice behind them said. Lily and Potter both turned to see Lucius Malfoy sneering at them, Potter's invisibility cloak dangling loosely in his hand.
Lily and Potter both instinctively reached for their wands, although Lily had no idea what two first-years hoped to do
against a seventh-year as skilled in the dark arts as this one. She didn't have much time to figure it out, either,
because before she got her wand out of her pocket, another voice to her left said, "Don't even think about
it." She turned to see Malfoy's friend, Crabbe standing there, his wand also out. She glanced at Potter, and
he shrugged, then dropped his hand. Lily did the same.
"Now what would two ickle first-years be doing out of their common rooms during an afternoon like this one?" Malfoy asked in a mocking tone. "Surely you weren't so hungry that you had to run down to the kitchens right after the game?"
Lily glanced at her feet. If Malfoy asked her about the parchment, he would see right through any sort of excuse that she would try to come up with. Potter must have once again been thinking along the same lines as Lily, because he drew Malfoy's attention away from her. "We just wanted to get some butterbeer to drown our sorrows in. Give us our detention, and we'll be on our way, if you don't mind." He looked defiantly into Malfoy's eyes.
Malfoy chuckled maliciously. "Oh, but I do mind," he said, grinning at them. "I mind quite a bit. You see, I have it on very good authority that the two of you happen to know about a certain tunnel out of Hogwarts."
Lily still did not look up, knowing that if she did, she would give away what she was thinking. "What are you on about, Malfoy?" Potter asked. "There's a tunnel out of Hogwarts?" He looked at Malfoy quizzically, as though this was the first time that the possibility had ever occurred to him. His voice rang with the familiar practiced innocence, but it sounded fake to Lily's ears; she hoped sincerely that this was only because she knew that he was lying.
Malfoy chuckled again. "I've known that you were down that tunnel, Potter, along with your little girlfriend here, for quite some time. The only thing that I didn't know was if it was before or after we'd passed through, and therefore whether or not you had what I need." He shook Potter's invisibility cloak. "But now I know that you were there at the same time that we were, and so I know that you've got it." Neither Lily nor Potter bothered to say anything to this as Malfoy reached into his robes and pulled out what appeared to be an empty bottle of pumpkin juice. "And you're going to tell me what you've done with it. We're just going to go some place a little more…private, to discuss it. Grab on to this." He thrust the empty bottle toward them.
"Are you daft, Malfoy?" Potter asked. "If we grab that, there's no telling where you'll take us." Lily looked quizzically at Potter, but he was unable to explain anything to her at the moment, so she simply kept her hand resolutely at her side.
"You'll do it, Potter," Malfoy snapped.
"I won't," Potter said, crossing his arms.
Malfoy cursed and grabbed the sleeve of Potter's robe. "Grab her," he snarled at Crabbe. Crabbe grabbed Lily by the hair. She winced as he pulled it.
"Let go of her!" Potter shouted, lunging toward Crabbe. Malfoy hexed him, and Potter fell to the ground in pain.
"James!" Lily cried out in alarm, automatically moving toward him.
"Leave him, Evans," Malfoy said, again grabbing Potter by the sleeve. Potter stood up slowly, but continued to glare defiantly at Malfoy. "Come on Crabbe, what are you waiting for?"
Crabbe walked over beside Malfoy, dragging Lily painfully by the hair as she went. He reached out and grabbed on to the bottle, and in the next instant, Lily felt a jerk somewhere behind her navel. The sensation was unlike any that Lily had ever felt before-like she was tumbling aimlessly through space. She closed her eyes, the spinning and whirling making her sick, until they landed with a thud. She fell forward, yelping in pain as Crabbe yanked her up by the hair. He pushed her roughly toward a chair and bound her legs and arms tightly to it. Lily saw out of the corner of her eye that Malfoy was attempting to wrestle Potter into the chair next to her, but Potter was putting up a good fight, kicking and clawing as he went. Malfoy was much bigger than Potter, however, and he had his wand, which he was using to hex Potter at every available opportunity. Crabbe came over and helped Malfoy, and they bound Potter into a chair as well. The two turned and headed to a door straight in front of them, and when they had disappeared, Lily finally chanced a glance around. There was something about this room that seemed very…familiar. Lily strained her memory, trying to place it.
"Any ideas, Evans?" Potter asked, his voice rasping in pain. Lily started, having momentarily forgotten that he was beside her. She turned her head to look at him, and nearly winced at the sight. His face was bloody and swelling, his robes were torn up, and he looked as though he wouldn't be able to sit upright if he hadn't been bound to the chair. Before she could ask him how badly hurt he was, a movement in one of the shadowy corners of the room caught her eye. She peered into the darkness, trying to make the shadows take a solid form. What she saw made her heart leap. Alfie? But it couldn't be. As the shadow moved into the light, she saw that it wasn't Alfie, but rather another house-elf, and it was staring at the two of them. She was about to say something to Potter when the sound of voices in front of her drew her attention to the door. Three figures entered the room. Lily kept her eye on the house elf and noticed that it immediately withdrew into the shadows and disappeared. The three figures appeared not to have noticed it.
Lily looked up, and for the second time that day, a feeling of déjà vu nearly overwhelmed her. Two of the figures drawing near them were wearing hoods to conceal their faces, and between them was Frank-only the man in front of her was Frank all grown up. His face was relatively unlined, but still possessed wrinkles that Frank's did not, and his hair was thinning on top. The eyes, however, were unmistakable. Lily was staring into Frank's eyes, and they were filled with fear. For a moment, she felt hopelessly confused. How could a grown-up Frank be here with them right now, when Frank-the-boy was at Hogwarts in the Gryffindor common room as they sat there? Then she realized what was happening, and wondered briefly why it'd taken her so long to figure it out. This was very obviously Frank's dad, Alexander Longbottom. A feeling of dread washed over Lily as the three men approached.
"This is not good," she heard Potter mutter.
This is not good? They were trapped who-knew-where with two men who had kidnapped a fully-grown wizard and killed at least one other; Potter was already hurt, and from the looks of it, pretty badly; she wasn't hurt, but was unlikely to remain that way for too much longer, because they knew what the men were after, and they knew what would happen if the men got it; worse yet, they had it with them, so even if she and Potter were to try to convince them that they didn't know anything about the parchment, all they'd have to do was search them to find out; and all Potter could think of to say was "this is not good"? It took every ounce of willpower that Lily possessed to fight off the urge to laugh at the absurd inadequacy of Potter's statement. "No," she agreed dryly. "This is not good at all." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Potter smile at her, and for some reason, felt reassured in spite of the hopelessness of the situation.
The men continued to approach them silently. As they drew near, Lily could see that Mr. Longbottom appeared to be
struggling, as though trying to make his feet move in another direction. He couldn't seem to stop the forward
motion, however, and Lily wondered vaguely what kind of spell allowed you to control someone's motion like that.
The three figures came to a stop just in front of them. "Well, who do we have here?" the man on the right
said. "James Potter and a mudblood."
"You'd better watch your mouth!" Potter shouted, struggling against his bindings.
The man on the right chuckled. "Temper, temper, young Potter. I'd have thought that you would have learned from my son that fighting back only gets you hurt." The man, who Lily deduced must be Malfoy's dad, pointed his wand at Potter, and said a spell that Lily did not know. Mr. Longbottom made to grab at Malfoy, Sr.'s wand, but the other man quickly stunned him, and he fell to the ground unconscious. Lily uttered a small scream as Potter's body went taught, and he screamed in pain.
"Then let's get straight to the point, shall we? Where is it?" the man on the left said in an impatient tone. Lily did not answer. "Come on children, I'm short on time and temper. Where is it? The Dark Lord will be needing it shortly." He turned to look at Malfoy, Sr. "Will you lift the curse already so that he can tell us!"
Malfoy, Sr. lifted the spell and Potter slumped back into his chair. For a wild moment, Lily thought that he was dead, but then he lifted his head and glared up at them. "We don't know what you're talking about!" he spat out.
"Lying now, Potter?" Malfoy, Sr. said, the sneer still firmly in place. "I suppose it's to be expected from the child of a mud-blood."
"Don't talk about my mother that way!" Potter said, still fighting against his bindings. Malfoy, Sr. just laughed and again pointed his wand at Potter. Potter's body began contorting, and another scream of pain escaped his lips.
"Stop it!" Lily shouted out, unable to contain herself any longer. "Stop it! Hurting him won't help you get the parchment. Please!" Malfoy, Sr. lifted his wand and smiled at her. Too late, Lily realized her mistake.
"So you do know about it, then," Malfoy, Sr. said, coming closer to Lily and peering at her. "My son was not misinformed."
"Where is it then," the impatient man snapped again.
Potter struggled to lift his head, and the look in his eyes plainly told Lily to let him handle it. "Dumbledore has it," Potter rasped. "We gave it back to him this afternoon."
Lily silently congratulated Potter for thinking so quickly, but her excitement was short-lived. "Our source within Hogwarts has assured us that you did no such thing," Malfoy said calmly.
"Lucius has no idea what I did this afternoon," Potter countered.
Malfoy, Sr. chuckled. "You have no way of knowing that for certain," he stated. "We have many methods of getting information about the activities taking place within Hogwarts."
Lily was dumbstruck. They had been right about Amos, then. He would know whether or not Dumbledore had gotten the parchment from them, because he would have been with Dumbledore during the aftermath of the quidditch match… Lily's mind began racing again, trying to think of something to stall for time. The only thing that she knew for certain at the moment was that they could not let the dark wizard get that parchment; even her own safety was secondary to that one thought. "You'll have to go to Hogwarts to get it," Lily said finally. "It's in my dormitory."
Malfoy, Sr. approached and knelt down in front of Lily, looking piercingly into her eyes. He stared at her for a few moments before his eyes narrowed dangerously. "Do not lie to me," he said menancingly. He raised his hand and Lily automatically recoiled away from it. He did not hit her, however. Instead, he reached his hand inside her robe, found her pocket, and pulled out the piece of parchment. The impatient man revived Mr. Longbottom, who immediately started yelling at them about hurting young children. Malfoy, Sr. barely glanced at him. "If you don't shut up, Longbottom, I'll torture them again. Would you like to watch that?"
Longbottom's eyes opened wide in horror. "You wouldn't do that, Malfoy. They're only children!"
"Keep your mouth shut, then," Malfoy, Sr. commanded, inspecting the parchment closely. "This is it, let's go."
"What are we going to do with them?" the impatient man asked.
"We'll let the Dark Lord decide once we've finished the ceremony," Malfoy answered. "They'll have to be dealt with somehow. They know far too much to be released. Lucius is watching the house, so they'll be fine here for now." He walked over to a fireplace on one wall of the room and pointed his wand at it. A fire instantly leapt to life, and the flames lit up details of the room that Lily had not been able to see in the darkness. She realized that she was in what appeared to be the ballroom of a manor. "You'll have to travel by floo powder," Malfoy, Sr. was now saying to the impatient man. "Longbottom won't apparate, and since imperius doesn't work on him, this is the only way. I've bribed the fool working at the floo-network right now to go on a coffee break, so you won't be seen."
The impatient man grabbed Mr. Longbottom by the arm, and forced him over to the fireplace. "Where are we meeting?"
"The deserted Riddle Manor in Little Hangleton," Malfoy said, before disappearing with a crack.
The impatient man threw something into the fireplace, and shoved Mr. Longbottom into it, shouting "Riddle Manor, Little Hangleton" as he did so. The fire roared up around Mr. Longbottom, and in the next instant he was gone. The man then repeated the process for himself.
After a moment, Lily turned her head so that she could see Potter. "Are you okay?" she asked quickly.
He tried to smile at her, but winced in pain at the movement. "I'll be fine," he said.
"You're lying," Lily countered, once again noticing movement in the shadows. The house-elf that Lily had noticed earlier stepped into the light. He looked as though he'd been injured-his hands were now bound with bandages, and he had a lump on his head. "You will be safe, sir and miss," the house-elf said in a high-pitched voice not unlike Alfie's. "They is coming soon, and you is safe." Lily watched in horror as the elf went over to the fireplace, and started poking his feet with the poker.
"No, stop!" she called out, but the elf paid her no mind. She looked at Potter in bewilderment. "What is it doing?"
Potter shook his head. "I've no idea," he said. "We don't have a house-elf."
Two popping sounds drew their attention once again to the shadows, from which Alfie and another house-elf that Lily did not know were now emerging. "Why are you-? How did you-?" she sputtered.
Alfie smiled at her. "We is going to Hogwarts now, Miss. There is no time for questions." With a flick of his hand, Alfie released both Lily and Potter from the bindings that were holding them in the chair. Lily stood up quickly, stretching as she did so.
"How did you do that?" she asked in wonder. Potter tried to stand up, but crumpled to the floor with a cry of pain. She ran over to him, and put his arm around her shoulder, helping him back into the chair.
Alfie was now motioning them over to the fireplace. "We must go now, Miss! They is coming back for you soon." Alfie grabbed onto Lily's robes and started tugging.
"We can't go back to Hogwarts, Alfie! They have the parchment! I have to stop them!" Even as she said it, Lily knew how ridiculous it sounded. How could she stop them? Even if Potter wasn't injured, the two of them couldn't even take on one fully-grown wizard by themselves, let alone three. And there might even be more than that. But what choice did they have? They were the only ones who knew. She finally got Alfie to let go of her robes, and turned to him with a pleading look.
"You must go, Miss. Alfie is bringing you back to school," Alfie said, again raising his hands. In the next instant, Lily was flying through the air toward the fireplace. She continued to hover there while Alfie threw some powder into it. He directed her in, said "Hogwarts", and the next thing Lily knew, the flames had engulfed her and she was swirling around and around, banging her elbows on the wall, and coughing because of all of the ash and smoke that she was breathing in. The swirling was starting to make her sick, so she closed her eyes tightly, not opening them until she had fallen violently forward and landed on the ground with a thud. Lily scrambled out of the way, something in her stunned mind reminding her that there was a good chance that Potter would shortly be flying out of the fireplace as well. As soon as she'd moved, he tumbled out of the fireplace and onto the floor in front of her.
"Are you okay?" Lily asked him for the second time that night.
He smiled, but it looked more like a grimace. "That's the second time you've asked me that, Evans," he said, clutching his chest in pain. "You'd better watch out, or no one will believe you anymore when you say you want me dead."
"I've never said that I want you dead," she said, but then laughed. "Not that I want you to go thinking that I don't. It's just that if you die right now, I'll get blamed for it somehow, and I don't want to be expelled," she added, trying to keep the mood light.
Potter laughed, and then cringed in pain, grabbing at his ribs. "Stop making me laugh, Evans," he said, breathing deeply, "or you may just kill me, after all!"
Lily gazed around at the room that they had landed in. "We're in Dumbledore's office," she said, taking in the details of the circular room.
"I've been here enough to know that," Potter said, rolling his eyes. "But where is Dumbledore? We have to tell him what's happening!"
At that moment, the door to the office burst open and Dumbledore walked in. He was not alone. "Just what do you think you're doing here?" Lily snarled, surprising even herself.
"Professors Amos and McGonagall are here on my invitation, Lily, as it is students from their houses that have
gone missing," Dumbledore said, folding his hands in front of him and resting his elbows lightly on his desk.
"Or at least, were missing. It seems as though both of Professor McGonagall's have returned." He motioned
for them all to sit down. Lily went over to help Potter, and he struggled to his feet, limping painfully to one of the
chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk. "James, should I have Professor McGonagall fetch Madam Pomfrey for
you?"
Potter waved his hand. "I'll be fine, Professor. There's no time. We have to tell you-"
Dumbledore smiled gently in Potter's direction. "My first concern is your welfare, James. If you need medical attention, I am quite certain that Lily will be able to tell me what I need to know without your assistance." Dumbledore held Potter's gaze for a moment before turning to McGonagall. "Minerva, would you please take James down to the hospital wing. I don't believe that he is quite as uninjured as he professes, and I daresay that Madam Pomfrey would have my wand if I tried to heal him myself."
McGonagall stood up and nodded briskly at Dumbledore, before holding out her hand and helping Potter up. "Come with me, Potter," she said crisply, but the concern in her eyes belied the curtness of her tone. She was obviously very worried about him. It was also clear to Lily that Potter wanted to protest, but relented under Dumbledore's gaze.
Dumbledore watched the door close tightly behind them, and turned back to Lily. "Lily, I need you to tell me everything that happened tonight. Everything," he stressed. "Don't leave something out just because you believe it might get you into trouble."
Lily glanced suspiciously at Amos, but since precious minutes were slipping away, and there was little that she could reveal that he didn't already know if he was a spy, she told Dumbledore what had happened.
"Do you know where they went?" Dumbledore asked, a note of urgency in his voice that Lily had never before seen in the headmaster.
Lily strained hard, trying to remember the name. "Rydell-No, Riddle-Manor," she said. "I can't remember the location."
"That's quite all right, Lily," Dumbledore said, smiling kindly. "And now, I'm going to have to ask you once again to do what I told you earlier today, and wait back in your common room." Lily flushed, but there was no hint of reproach in Dumbledore's voice, just a bland statement of fact. "Professor Amos, if you don't mind? I've got matters to attend to, and I don't want Miss Evans walking unescorted through the castle-particularly given the events of this afternoon."
Lily's eyes grew round, and she started to protest. "But Professor, you don't know-," she began.
Professor Dumbledore held up a hand. "I know much more than you may give me credit for, Lily. And one of the things that I know is that you will be perfectly safe with Professor Amos." Dumbledore stood up, and Amos followed. Lily looked suspiciously at Professor Amos, but also stood. Surely he couldn't hurt her right now, since Dumbledore knew that she was with him. "Time is of the essence if we are to stop Mr. Riddle," Dumbledore said, as Fawkes flew over to him and settled onto his shoulder. With a pop, both had disappeared and leaving a single gold feather and maroon and gold smoke remained where Professor Dumbledore had stood.
Amos turned and began walking out of the doorway. "Miss Evans?" he snapped. She took one last look at where Dumbledore had been standing, and then turned to follow him out of the office.
They walked silently toward Gryffindor Tower, Lily nearly running to keep up with Amos's strides. When they were halfway to their destination, Professor Figg came running up to them. "Oh, Hagen! Thank goodness I found you. There's a bit of a riot going on down in your common room at the moment. You need to get down there immediately."
Amos glanced at Lily, and then back to Figg. "Professor Dumbledore has asked me to escort Miss Evans back to her common room-" he began.
Figg waved her hand dismissively. "I think I can handle escorting a small child back to her dormitory, Hagen," she declared. "But you know perfectly well that your students aren't going to listen to anybody but you."
Amos hesitated. "All right," he said finally. "Evans is to go directly back to Gryffindor tower. She's been in enough trouble already today," he said, turning and heading back down the stairs toward the basement.
"I'll see that she's taken care of," Professor Figg called toward his back. Once he had disappeared, Figg turned back to Lily. "I was just on my way to check one of my potions, Miss Evans. I trust that you won't mind accompanying me to my office for a moment? I'm sure that you can't wait to get back to Gryffindor tower with your friends, but I'm afraid that if I don't add the next ingredients to this potion within five minutes, I will have to toss it out. They can be quite sensitive that way."
Lily nodded, not really paying attention to Figg's words. Her mind was wandering from James, and hoping that he was going to be okay, to Dumbledore, and praying that he would be able to stop Tom Riddle from finishing the ceremony. She followed Professor Figg numbly to her potions laboratory, and sat on a stool while she waited for her to finish whatever it was that she was doing to her potion.
In a daze, Lily watched Professor Figg's work, her hand closed idly around her locket. The first ingredient to be added was salamander blood, and then a stir; the next ingredient was bubotuber puss and then another stir. As Lily continued to watch, the Potions laboratory slowly dissolved, and she was standing in a field that she didn't recognize. She shook her head, trying to clear it, but when the field didn't disappear, Lily understood.
She was having another dream, and in that dream, Figg stood in the middle of a group of hooded figures, a potion bubbling in front of her. Suddenly Lily realized-Figg would have known about their location the night that she and Potter had had detention, having been the one that sent them; Figg would have known that they didn't take the parchment to Professor Dumbledore, having been with him during the aftermath of the game; and Tom Riddle would need someone highly skilled in Potions to assist him with his quest for immortality. Hadn't Professor Figg herself talked about magical ceremonies that combined different disciplines of magic? Lily fought back the wave of panic that threatened to engulf her as the realization dawned that it had been Professor Figg, and not Professor Amos at all, that she was not safe alone with.
Lily breathed deeply, trying to summon the courage that the sorting hat had seen in her when it placed her in
Gryffindor house. The panic slowly ebbed, although it did not subside entirely as she surveyed the scene in front of
her. Several of the hooded figures were chanting. Off to her right, Mr. Longbottom was waving his wand in a complex
series of motions, and in the middle of it all was another hooded figure wearing green and silver robes. Through the
slits in the hood, she could make out eyes of pure venom, and she knew, somehow, that she was looking at Tom Riddle.
Lily heard Malfoy, Sr.'s drawl to the left of her, and she could hear that he was chanting. "Soon, my Lord.
Soon you will be immortal and no one will be able to stop you on your noble quest. Soon, my Lord. Soon, my
Lord."
Lily looked around, trying to understand what was happening. It appeared that they were performing the last steps of the ceremony, but they were not in a manor. In fact, there were no houses for any distance that she could see, just an old barn. She had to figure out where they were. Wondering if she could control this vision, having never before had the presence of mind to realize that she was having one and so never having tried, Lily willed herself to walk towards the barn. Perhaps something about it would give her a clue as to where they were. Obviously Riddle Manor had not been Malfoy, Sr's final destination.
Lily approached the barn, and saw that there was a path in front of it that led out to a road. She walked past the barn and approached the thoroughfare. As she drew closer, she could see a sign just up the road that said Hogsmeade. Below the writing was an arrow. They were near Hogsmeade! Lily felt a jolt of excitement flow through her, and just as suddenly as it had appeared, the road and the sign were gone, and she was sitting on the floor in her Potions Master's laboratory.
"My dear child," Professor Figg said, running around to where Lily was lying. "What in Merlin's name happened?"
"Noth-nothing, Professor," Lily said, standing up and backing inconspicuously away.
"Expelliarmus!" a voice from behind Lily said, and before she could turn to look, her wand and Professor Figg's wand went flying out of their hands. They both turned around and saw Malfoy and Crabbe approaching them, wands out. "Your services are once again required, Figg," Malfoy said, walking over to her.
Figg glared at Malfoy. "I've told you before I won't help you, Malfoy!" she said calmly.
Malfoy laughed mirthlessly. "That's what you said last fall, when I asked you to retrieve Dumbledore's book for me. Do you remember that, Figg? No, of course you wouldn't. I took care to make sure that you would not be able to tell anyone what I was doing. Well, allow me to remind you of the other times you've helped then, like last winter, when I caught you outside to ask you who might know the whereabouts of the missing page. You argued with me, but you assisted me anyway. And you assisted me just earlier today, when I asked you if the page had been returned to Dumbledore. I daresay, you have been just as helpful as any of the Dark Lord's loyal servants. And you will help him this time, as well." Malfoy responded, pointing his wand at her. "Imperio."
As Lily watched, Figg's eyes took on a vacant look. "Stand up," he commanded. Figg stood without objection, and Lily realized that Malfoy was using the imperius curse that Alice and Amelia had described to her.
"What do we do with this one?" Crabbe grunted, pointing his wand at Lily. "We'll have to bring her with us," Malfoy snapped. "She knows too much for us to allow her to escape again!"
Malfoy pulled out an old sock, and in the next instant, he and Figg had disappeared. Lily stared in shock at the spot where they had stood, fighting back the urge to cry as Crabbe grabbed her roughly by the hair for the second time that day. Her mind raced as she desperately tried to come up with a plan.
"They're near Hogsmeade!" she screamed desperately, praying that someone might walk by and hear her. "They aren't at Riddle Manor! Professor Amos! Professor McGonagall!!! They're east of Hogsmeade. Not Riddle Manor!!" Crabbe yanked her head back and Lily yelped.
"Shut up you filthy little mudblood!" he spat.
Lily glared up at him defiantly. "They're in Hogsmeade!" she shouted again. "Not Riddle Ma-" Crabbe raised his hand, and Lily just had time to scream before his palm connected with her cheekbone. She felt an explosion of pain rip through her face from her ear all the way to her jaw, and in the next second, everything went black.