Thanks all for your reviews! This story, and my others are all posted on my Yahoo group, Triumvirate of Verbosity, which you can find at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/triumvirateofverbosity.
Sorry it was so long before I updated this time!
Chapter 6: Detention with Potter
By the time that Friday evening arrived, the weather had taken a turn for the worst, and violent wind was lashing rain
against the castle in sheets. At 9:45, Professor McGonagall arrived in the common room to escort Lily and Potter to
Professor Figg's office. She gave them both a look of disapproval before turning to lead them out of the portrait
hole into the hall, but said very little, except to remark how surprised she was that it was Lily, and not Black, in
detention with Potter that evening. When they arrived at Figg's office, Figg informed them that the rain had caused
a leak on the third floor. The leak had been repaired, but the flooding had left a mess, and Filch had requested the
assistance of some students to clean it up. "And you two," she had said with a smile, "were the lucky
students volunteered."
Potter groaned as she handed them rags, mops and buckets. "And no magic, either," Figg said to them as they arrived in the hall where the leak had occurred. "Filch will be around to check on the two of you every hour or so," she advised them before walking away. Lily picked up a mop and set to work; she was determined not to say anything to Potter if she could help it. They worked in silence, and after an hour or so Filch came around to check on them. With a threat to work faster or face more detention, he disappeared. Lily set down her mop and picked up a rag to begin cleaning off a statue of a hump-backed witch.
As she cleaned, she noticed a little crack on the hump, out of which a little ray of light was shining. Potter looked over and noticed her inspecting it. "What'd you find, Evans?" he called, startling Lily. She jumped, and bumped her head on the witch's arm.
"Ouch!" she said, rubbing her head. Potter laughed. "Shhhhh! There's a crack on the back of this statue over here, and some light shining out."
Potter's eyes widened, and he hurried over to where Lily was standing. "Let me see!" He inspected the statue. "You're right Evans," he said in excitement. "I think it might be the entrance to a secret passage. But how to get it open?" Lily watched as he tried tapping the witch three times with his wand. "Nope, that's not it." Next, he tried tickling it, but again, nothing happened. "Didn't think that would work, it's how you get into the kitchen," he said, apparently talking to himself. Lily stood there in trepidation. She felt like they should be getting back to work, but on the other hand, it was rather funny to watch Potter try to figure this out. He stood back and contemplated the statue for a moment. "Any ideas, Evans?" he asked her finally.
That did it, now he was trying to drag her into this, and she'd had quite enough of detention to last her for a lifetime, thank you very much! "Yes," she said briskly, "I think that we ought to finish up cleaning, and get back to Gryffindor Tower."
Potter stared at her for a moment, apparently horrified at the suggestion, and then let out a groan. "You can't be serious, Evans! When are we ever going to have an opportunity like this again? The halls are deserted, we're out of bed legally, and we've found a secret passage!" He looked at her with the same pleading look that she had seen him give Andromeda on the first day of classes.
Lily shook her head. "No," she said, "I've gotten into enough trouble because of your little stunt in potions as it is."
He stared at her for a moment, frustrated. "All right, how's this," he said finally. "Just help me get it open right now. If Filch or a teacher comes by, we'll just tell them we're cleaning it, and once we know how to open it, Sirius and I will explore it later."
Lily wasn't sure what to do. On the one hand, she was extremely curious about the source of the light, but on the other hand, she didn't want to get caught and end up with a week's worth of detentions, either. Of course, Filch had just been by a few minutes ago, so he wasn't due back for awhile, and they had yet to see a teacher in the hall. Oh why not? She was allowed to have a little fun, wasn't she? What could it hurt. Lily nodded her head slowly, "Okay," she said, and Potter let out a quiet shout of excitement. "Shhhh-you're going to bring Filch back here if you keep that up!" she admonished him. "All right, I think I remember reading something once about a charm that forces a statue to reveal if it's a magical doorway or not."
Potter rolled his eyes. "You read something once?" he asked in derision. "You're even making this boring, Evans!"
Lily glared at him. "Do you want my help or don't you?" she asked.
Potter's eyes were now dancing with excitement. "Go on, then," he replied.
"Give me a second," Lily said, closing her eyes and trying to remember where she had run across the proper charm. "Hang on, I've got it!" she said, and she pulled out her wand. She tapped the witch on her arm and said "dissendium", but nothing happened. Potter looked crestfallen.
"Any other ideas?" he said.
"I'm not done yet, hang on," Lily responded, glancing at the witch thoughtfully. "I wonder if I tapped it in the right place?" She tapped the head and repeated dissendium, but again nothing happened.
"Try tapping it near the crack," Potter suggested.
"Good idea," Lily said, tapping the hump. "Dissendium!" To their surprise, the statue creaked, and an opening appeared in the hump, just large enough for them to fit into. The light had been coming from a lantern, but the gust of wind created by the hump opening up had extinguished it.
Potter's eyes widened. "You're a genius, Evans," he said, grinning. "Now it's time to call for reinforcements," he added, pulling what looked like a mirror out of his robes.
"What do you mean, reinforcements?" Lily asked suspiciously, but Potter didn't answer. He was whispering "James to Sirius," into the mirror. She looked over his shoulder, but to her surprise, rather than seeing Potter's reflection, as she had expected, Black's head had just appeared.
"Take you long enough, Jamesy?" Black asked with a smile. "What did you find?"
"I'll tell you when you get down here. Get my cloak-it's in the trunk. And bring Pete and Remmy, too," Potter answered him. "They won't want to miss this!"
Black shook his head. "No way. They've been asleep for nearly an hour, and last time I tried to wake Remus up, he nearly bit my head off. I think I'll let them sleep."
"Well, just you then!" Potter said in excitement. "Hurry! We don't have a lot of time until Filch comes back again."
"I'm already out the door," Black said, his head disappearing from the mirror.
Lily was now glaring at Potter in disgust. "You said you and Sirius would explore it later."
Potter looked up at her in surprise, as if he had forgotten that she was there. "When did I say that?" he asked, pulling out his wand and muttering lumos. A beam of light like a flashlight appeared at the tip. He held his wand inside the hump, trying to see where the passage led.
"A few minutes ago," Lily reminded him, "just before I agreed to help you, remember?"
"Nox," he mumbled, putting his wand back inside his robes. He turned to face Lily. "Then it looks like I'm a man of my word, Evans. If I said that a few minutes ago, then by all accounts, when Sirius gets here and we start exploring, it will definitely be later than from when I said it."
Lily glared at him, furious. "You're unbelievable, Potter," she said, her eyes narrowing in anger. "You know that I can holler for Filch the minute you two disappear down that hump?" she asked hotly.
Potter cocked his head at her, his eyes sparkling in amusement. "You could," he agreed, nodding. "But you won't."
Lily bristled. "And just what makes you so sure of that?" she snapped.
"Because you'll be coming with us," he said, as though he were explaining something to a small child.
"I most certainly am not!" she responded.
"You are coming with us," he repeated, "because if you stay here, and Filch comes by, you'll have to explain how Sirius and I got the passage open. And you're a terrible liar, Evans. He'd know in a second that you weren't telling the truth if you say that Sirius or I did it."
Lily gaped at him. He was right, of course. She was a terrible liar. Potter's face split into a grin as he saw that she wasn't going to argue. "You're in this with us, Evans," he said with a laugh. "You may as well try to enjoy it!"
Lily went back to mopping while they waited for Black to arrive. She was still furious with Potter for misleading her
as he had, and for making it so that she had no choice but to go with him on this little escapade, but she was starting
to feel a little excited, too. She peered down the hall, trying to catch a glimpse of Black, and let out a yelp. Black
was in front of her. Or at least, his head was. Her eyes widened as the rest of him appeared and she saw him holding
something silvery that was almost liquid-like in appearance. "How did you? What is…?" She stared at him in
amazement.
Black grinned. "An invisibility cloak, Evans," he said, tossing it to Potter, who caught it easily. "Belonged to Jamesy's Dad. He was kind enough to pass it on to James to assist him in, err…making the most of his educational experience," he explained.
James laughed. "Mum doesn't know, though," he said. "She'd have dad's hide if she found out."
Black was now peering down the opening in the witch's hump. "Amazing, mate," he said, "and Evans actually helped you with this?" He looked at Lily in admiration.
"Yeah," Potter said, looking not at all pleased to give any credit to Lily. "Let's get going." Potter headed toward the statue.
"Just a minute," Lily said, pulling out her wand. "Scourgify!" she said, flicking her wand. The mess from the flood immediately disappeared, and as she gave her wand another flick, the brooms, buckets and rags all piled themselves neatly against the wall. "So if Filch comes back and we're not here, he'll think we were finished for the night," she explained.
Black gave Lily another look of appreciation. "You're starting to think like a marauder," he said.
Potter cast a glare at Black. "If you knew how to do that all along, why were you doing it the muggle way?" he asked in disbelief. He sounded annoyed, but Lily saw a glimmer of admiration in his eyes
"Because Figg said no magic," Lily explained, blushing. "But since we're already facing a month's worth of detentions if we're caught for this, I figured what's one more broken rule?"
Potter shook his head with a grin. "You're full of surprises, Evans," he said, disappearing through the opening in the witch's hump.
Potter called out for them to follow, so Black went through the opening, followed by Lily. She fell a short distance before landing with a thud beside Potter and Black. The witch's hump began to close, cutting off their only source of light. All three pulled out their wands and muttered lumos. Instantly, three beams of light snaked through the darkness, and she could see Potter's and Black's faces shining with excitement. Potter motioned for the other two to follow him. "What's a marauder, anyway?" Lily asked as they set off down the tunnel. She felt more nervous than she had before her first flying lesson.
"What?" Potter asked.
"A marauder," Lily said again. "Black said earlier that I was starting to think like a marauder. What did he mean?"
Black and Potter both smiled. "Sirius, Peter, Remus and I have decided to call ourselves the marauders," Potter explained. "We think the name goes along with our vow to break rules, skive off classes, plunder the kitchens, and otherwise cause trouble during our time at Hogwarts."
"It's a compliment, Evans," Black added.
"Oh," Lily said, startled to find that she felt pleased by this. "Lupin has vowed to skive off classes?" she asked, surprised a little.
Black laughed. "Remmy? Never. We told him that we would let him out of that part of the vow because we need someone to take notes for us anyway."
"What?" Potter said, now looking closely at Lily. "No lecture? You're disappointing me, Evans."
Lily ignored him and kept walking. Potter and Black began talking excitedly, making bets on where the tunnel was leading. She felt something flit across her foot, and suppressed a yelp, but her wandlight revealed that it was only a rat. They walked for quite some time before finally reaching a set of staircases. At the top of the stairs was a trap door, which they opened. Potter whispered that he would go first, and let them know if it was safe. "If not," he whispered quietly, "take the invisibility cloak and get out of here. There's no reason we should all get in trouble."
He opened the door and disappeared from view. A few minutes later, his head poked back down, and he called them up. They both hauled themselves up into what appeared to be a cellar of sorts. There were boxes piled everywhere with names like "Honeydukes Fine Chocolate" and "Drooble's Best Blowing Gum".
"Do you know where we are, mate?" Black asked excitedly. Potter and Lily both shrugged. "This has to be Honeydukes. I thought when we were walking that we were heading toward Hogsmeade." He saw an open crate filled with lollies, and grabbed a bag.
"Black!" Lily said sharply. "Set that down. I won't be a part of stealing, too!"
"Relax, Evans," Potter said with a grin. "Siri will pay them for it."
Black looked surprised, but pulled out a sickle and set it beside the now open bag of lollies. "Better?" he asked, twirling the lolly in his mouth.
"We'd better get back," Potter said, heading toward the trap door. "This'll come in handy, that's for sure. We won't have to try and squish all four of us under that invisibility cloak next weekend!" He once again disappeared, and Black and Lily followed. By Lily's estimation, they were about half way back to Hogwarts when they heard voices coming toward them. "Quick," Potter said, pulling out his invisibility cloak and motioning toward the other two. They slipped underneath the invisibility cloak just as three figures emerged around the corner a few hundred yards ahead of them.
Lily stood completely still, barely breathing. Her heart was thumping so loudly in her chest that she was certain it
would give away their presence in the passageway. Although light spilled out from the ends of the wands of each of the
three figures making their way toward them, she couldn't make out their faces. She could, however, hear what they
were saying; their voices carried easily in the empty tunnel. "Why did you have to steal it from Dumbledore?"
the short, stocky one on the right asked in a deep voice that sounded almost like a grunt.
"Because Dumbledore owns the only remaining copy of the book, you idiot!" the taller one in the center said, his voice mocking. "Do you think you can just walk into Fluorish and Blotts and buy an ancient book like this?"
"Shhhh, Victor! Lucius!" the third one said, and from the voice, Lily guessed that she was a female. "Don't talk about this here. We might be overheard."
"Who's going to overhear us, Narcissa dear?" the tall one asked. So the girl was Narcissa Black, Andromeda's sister, Lily thought to herself, wondering what in the world they were doing down there. She heard Black let out a breath that sounded more like a hiss. "Even Filch doesn't know about this passage. And by the time that Dumbledore notices that the book is missing from his collection, the Dark Lord will already have it, and I'll have proven my loyalty and worth to serve him in his noble quest." Lily felt a shiver run down her spine. Dark Lord? Could this be the same dark lord that was responsible for the disappearances, and the death of the auror? And what book? What was it for?
"What's the book got in it?" the one on the right asked, echoing Lily's thoughts.
"If the Dark Lord felt that you were fit to know, Crabbe, I'm sure that you would have been informed of it," the tall one said. Crabbe. There had been a Crabbe sorted into Slytherin this year. Lily wondered briefly if this were his brother.
The three were drawing nearer now, and Lily could finally see their faces. The girl called Narcissa had blond hair, hazel eyes, and would have been pretty if not for the look on her face that made it appear as though she had recently sniffed something unpleasant. The tall one in the center had a pointy face, long blond hair, and piercing blue eyes. He was wearing a sneer on his face similar to the one that his shorter, dark-haired side-kick was sporting. Lily recognized the taller one to be one of the Slytherin prefects, and was nearly certain that he was the one that Narcissa had called Lucius. The third one, Crabbe, was now glaring at Lucius. Lily watched in trepidation as the three passed in front of them. "How do you know he doesn't consider me fit, Malfoy?" Crabbe asked, stopping a few yards past where Lily, Potter and Black stood huddled under the cloak.
Malfoy laughed. "You think that you're fit, Crabbe?" he asked derisively. Crabbe nodded. "Very well then," Malfoy said, pulling a large ancient book from his robes. "If you want to know what it is, read it yourself." He flipped the book open, and handed it to Crabbe. As he did so, a page came loose, and fluttered soundlessly to the ground inches away from where they were standing. Lily held her breath, watching them, certain that one of them would notice, but all three were now peering at the book, oblivious to the piece of parchment laying a few feet behind them. Lily gently lifted the invisibility cloak and placed it over the parchment, which disappeared from view.
"What language is this written in?" Crabbe asked stupidly.
"Ancient elvish," Malfoy replied. "The only wizards remaining who can read it are Dumbledore and the Dark Lord himself. And only those that can read it are fit to know what it is."
"So you don't even know?" Crabbe asked, as they began walking again.
"No!" Malfoy snapped. "And I don't need to know. I am a servant of the Dark Lord, and when he gives me a task, I carry it out for him."
At this, Narcissa laughed. "Your father is the servant, not you Lucius. And your father asked you to retrieve this for the Dark Lord."
"The Dark Lord has promised to reward my father by making me one of his servants, if I successfully retrieve this, and bring it to him." Malfoy snapped the book shut, and placed it back in its hiding place in his robes. "But perhaps you're right, Narcissa," Lucius said suddenly. "It's best not to discuss this here. I suddenly feel as though we're being watched." Lily's heart sped up as his glance passed over the spot where they were standing, but he turned and began walking again. "Let's go. The dark lord is waiting."
Malfoy, Crabbe and Narcissa began to walk quickly. Lily, Potter and Black remained under the cloak for what felt like an eternity after the Slytherins had disappeared, not daring to move. When they were finally sure that the three must have ascended into the cellar at Honeydukes, they slipped out from underneath the cloak, and Lily quickly bent down to retrieve the piece of parchment that had broken free.
Lily, Black and Potter stood staring at the parchment in silence for a moment, as if willing it to make sense to them.
"We've got to tell Dumbledore!" Lily said, looking up. "He'll need to know that the Dark Lord,
whoever he is, is trying to get the book, whatever it is."
To her surprise, Black and Potter both started shaking their heads. "We can't, Evans," Potter said quickly.
"Dumbest idea you've ever had," Black agreed.
"What?" she asked, surprised and a little offended. "We have to let him know! If this is the dark lord that Alice's grandpa is talking about, he's already-," she broke off, realizing that they had no idea what she was talking about, as they had not read Alice's grandpa's letter. She stared at them, trying to think of something to say. "Why not?" she said finally.
They both looked at each other in amazement. "So much for thinking like a marauder," Black said, laughing. "I'm disappointed in you, Evans."
"Likewise," Potter said, nodding his head in agreement.
"But why can't we tell him?" Lily tried again, frustrated that they seemed unwilling to share their reasoning with her.
"Because," Potter said slowly, as though the answer was obvious and she was being deliberately difficult. "If we tell Dumbledore, we'd have to explain how we know about the book."
"And that would entail telling him that we were exploring a secret passage when you two were supposed to be in detention, and I was supposed to be in Gryffindor tower," Black added.
Lily stared at them dumbfounded. "But if this book is going to help whomever it was they were talking about, we can't let him get it!" she said, a note of panic in her voice. A month's worth of detentions seemed a small price to pay, in her mind, to prevent the rise of a dark lord. "Dumbledore has to know. He defeated the last dark wizard! He'll know what to do." They shook their heads again, Potter's hair falling into his eyes as he did so. To her surprise, neither one seemed as upset as she was feeling.
"What good would it do us to tell him, Evans?" Potter finally asked. "All we know for sure is that he wants this book. We don't have any information other than that. We don't know why he wants it or who he is-"
"-Or if he's really even a dark wizard, or if Malfoy's just spouting off to impress Narcissa-"
"-And even if they really are taking it to a dark wizard, and Dumbledore could figure out why he wanted it, we still don't know where they were going-,"
"-Not to mention that by the time we find Dumbledore, this dark wizard will already have the book, so even if he could find the meeting place, it would be too late. All the wizard has to do is disapparate once Dumbledore appears-,"
"-And Dumbledore's not even an auror, so even if he doesn't disapparate, who knows if he'd even have the power to detain him-,"
"-So what's Dumbledore going to do besides give us detention?" Black finished.
Lily had been staring back and forth between the two of them. They had made a good point, but she still felt like they ought to tell someone. "Yeah, but-," she began.
"No, Evans." Potter said firmly. "It just doesn't make sense. There's no time to argue now-we don't know when the Slytherins will be back. Let's go." Potter draped the cloak around his body, so that only his head remained visible. "Come on, we should probably walk under this so that if they do come back, they don't see us."
"Fine," Lily snapped, putting the page from the book carefully into a pocket in her robe. She and Black slipped under the cloak, and they started to head back to Hogwarts. Lily was now thoroughly annoyed with both boys. She wasn't completely convinced that it was best not to tell Dumbledore, but she felt as though she didn't have any choice, anyway. If she tried to tell him, Potter and Black would just deny it, and she'd end up with more detention. Still, she felt certain that they should tell someone; she had just suggested Dumbledore because he'd been the first wizard that had come to mind. But what about an auror? Alice's grandpa would want to know, certainly. She decided to suggest this to the boys. "What if I tell Alice's grandpa?" she said as they were walking back toward Hogwarts. "He's an auror, and he's been warning Alice for months that there have been suggestions of dark magic appearing all over."
Potter and Black paused. "Not a bad idea, Evans," Potter said, thoughtfully. "That way somebody who can actually do something about it knows-"
"-and we stay out of trouble," Black finished. "I take back what I said about you not thinking like a marauder, Evans. That's inspired. I'll lend you my owl to send the letter. We can get it off first thing in the morning."
"Thanks," Lily said, the knowledge that an auror would be alerted to the situation making her feel immeasurably better. When they arrived back at Gryffindor tower, she said good night and headed up to the dormitory, where she found her roommates fast asleep. Lily didn't feel tired, so she pulled out a piece of parchment and wrote a letter to Alice's grandpa. When she was satisfied with what she had written, she laid down in bed, thinking about everything that had happened that evening. "I even got along with Potter and Black," she thought, surprised to find that she was happy about this.
*********************************
When she awoke the next morning, Lily immediately filled Alice and Amelia in on what had happened during detention the
previous night. Both were jealous that she had been on an adventure like that without them, but while Lily had to admit
that there were parts of it that she had enjoyed, on the whole, she wished that she had been back in the common room
with her friends. The three headed downstairs. When they arrived at the common room, the found it deserted except for
Black and Potter. She saw that Black was holding an eagle owl on his arm. "Do you have the letter ready?" he
asked, as Lily approached. She pulled it out of the pocket in her robes and held it up. "Good, good. Snuffles is
ready for a flight. I haven't had much use for him since my mum sent that howler."
Alice started giggling. "Snuffles?" she asked him.
"Yeah, Snuffles," he said, blushing. Lily was surprised. She didn't think she'd ever see Black get embarrassed.
"Why Snuffles?" she asked out of curiosity.
He turned even redder. "I've always wanted a dog," he mumbled, shrugging as all four started laughing.
"I think it's cute," Lily said, attaching the letter to the owl's leg, and scratching it on the head. The owl hooted softly, then lazily stretched its wings, and flew out the window.
They all watched until it had disappeared, and then Potter, who had been gazing at Alice and Amelia as though trying to gauge whether or not they knew about last night's adventure, and more importantly, how likely they were to tell a prefect or a professor, suddenly spoke, "Do these two know?" he asked.
"Of course they know!" Lily said, somewhat defensively. "I had to tell Alice to find out how to reach her grandpa, and Amelia won't say anything." The two girls nodded their heads in agreement.
Potter looked at both appraisingly, and then nodded his head slowly. "See that you don't. We've told Alice's grandpa. There's no need to inform Dumbledore." At this, he gazed piercingly at Lily. "Understand?"
Lily's good feelings toward Potter from last night suddenly vanished. She felt her temper flaring again. "I'll keep our deal, Potter! We agreed to inform Alice's grandpa. If he chooses to tell Dumbledore, so be it."
Sirius looked alarmed. "You did tell him not to mention where he got the information, didn't you?"
"Of course I did," Lily said, annoyed. "I'm not a complete idiot like the two of you."
Black glared at her, but didn't say anything. To her surprise, Potter grinned. "Glad to see last night hasn't changed you any, Evans. Wouldn't want you to like us just because you happened to be there when we had an adventure to carry out!"
Black laughed, "You're right, Jamesy. Who would let us know when we were going to do something that would get us into trouble if Evans here decided that she liked us!" Potter nodded, and started walking toward the portrait hole.
"Good point, Siri. I never thought of that. We definitely need her around to warn us. Come on," Potter called, beckoning as he headed toward the portrait hole. "Remmy and Petey will be waiting for us!"
Lily stood there, fuming as the two boys disappeared. A part of her had hoped that she'd be able to get along with the two of them now, because it would have made school a lot easier for her, but she could see that that wasn't going to happen. Alice shrugged. "Back to life as usual, then" she said with a small smile.