Chapter 50-A Smoky Haze
"Better watch your back, Potter," Lucius said. He was grinning maliciously and keeping his eyes intently focused on the three teenagers.
"I intend to, Malfoy. What kind of name is Lucius?" James asked.
"James, stop," Lily said, stepping on his foot.
"Listen to the Mudblood," Lucius said.
"I am sick of this Lucius. Stop with the Mudblood comment. It's getting rather old. Now, why are we here?" Lily asked.
"We only intended on kidnapping Mr. Potter. Not Black and yourself. So, the reason being is that Potter is some use to us. Apparently the kid has more potential than the Dark Lord prepared for," Malfoy said.
"What is he talking about?" Sirius asked. Both Lily and James turned to tell Sirius.
"The prophecy. There was some revelation made of the last remaining Potter," Lily said.
"Accio Wands," Malfoy muttered.
"What?" Sirius asked, feeling his wand swiftly fly out of his hand and into Malfoy's. Lily's and James's had done the same.
James started clapping.
"What is your problem?" Lily asked him.
"Malfoy, you finally made the right move. You really should wake up your buddy, it could get the ball rolling," James said.
Lucius just grinned. He took something out of his pocket and tapped the wand against it. Lily looked at it curiously but Sirius and James seemed to have recognized it.
"Smoke signals? How original," James said sarcastically.
"Dude, shut up!" Sirius said.
He put his arm in front of Lily. He was fully aware of what his future cousin-in-law was capable of. Malfoy had set a bottle on the ground. Apparently, the bottle was a Smoke Signaler. It could single any of the wizards or witches to whom it was addressed to.
A serpent protruded from the bottle in the form of smoke and soared into the sky.
"Smoke signals. Sirius, we really should have gotten some of those for detention!" James said.
"What is wrong with him? It's as though he's back in fourth year again," Lily said.
Sirius fixated his eyes on the ground. He saw Barty Crouch staring back at him.
"He put a spell on Prongs. That's why he's acting like this. He knows we need James to fight them off. So, he made him completely irresponsible," Sirius said.
"Great, just great," Lily said. She walked over to James and smacked him on the head.
"Snap out of it!" she said.
"What are we supposed to do? We have no wands. What are we going to do?" she cried.
"Just calm down. Halle had to have gotten Dumbledore. Just wait," Sirius said.
Before their eyes, a mass amount of hooded figures came creeping into the forest clearing.
"How do I stay calm now, genius?" Lily muttered under her breath.
"Come on Dumbledore.." Sirius muttered. He was running out of ideas.
"Professor, what is that?" Halle asked, pointing to the sky.
"What is what, Miss Douglas?" Professor Dumbledore asked, trying to search the sky.
"It's like smoke. I'm not quite sure. Do you think it could be Sirius?" Halle asked.
They were on the grounds, searching for clues. Remus and Katy looked to see where Halle had pointed out.
"It's smoke. It's a smoke signal," Remus said.
Dumbledore looked up immediately.
"Smoke signal?" he asked. He then raised his wand and muttered, "Accio Smokeometer."
"Smokeometer?" Katy, Halle, and Remus asked together.
A small purple object came soaring through the sky, breaking the window of Dumbledore's office. He muttered a spell to replace the window and caught the Smokeometer in his hands.
There was a glow and it was flashing at a rapid pace.
"They're in a forest," Dumbledore said. Signals were popping out of the Smokeometer. Dumbledore seemed able to comprehend it well.
"It's by Tom's old house. We must get there," Dumbledore said.
"I'm coming with you," Halle said.
"No, honey. You're in no condition to fight," Katy said.
"I am. I love Sirius and I am not going to let him and my friends die. I am going to do whatever I can. Do you have a problem with that or are you two going to join me?" Halle asked.
The two of them extended their wands and nodded.
"How are we going to get there?" Remus asked.
Dumbledore put his fingers between his lips and whistled. Yet again, the window broke and an object came out. Yet, this time the object turned out to be Fawkes the phoenix.
"Grab on," Dumbledore said sternly.
Suddenly, James appeared to be fighting something. He was struggling and clutching his head. And then, it dawned on Lily. He was fighting the curse from Crouch.
His hands fell to his sides and his eyes comprehended was he was seeing. They opened wide as he saw the hundreds of Death Eaters approaching. He made to grab his wand but found it was gone.
"What happened?" James asked.
Neither Lily nor Sirius answered. They were focusing their eyes on an escape route.
"Not so fast," Lucius said.
Jets of fire came bursting out of the wands of several Death Eaters and the trees caught fire. They had nowhere to turn.
Then, suddenly, the Death Eaters felt something on their arms. Their left arm to be exact. They all flinched in surprise.
Lucius narrowed his eyes at James.
"You're not getting away alive, Potter," he said.
"Really? Well, isn't your Master calling? He'll be mad if you're late," James said.
Lucius raised his wand and sent several serpents into the clearing. He then set the rest of the ground, plants, and trees onto fire. Smoke was piling on thicker and thicker.
If that wasn't enough, the serpents were hissing and approaching slowly but surely. Lucius grinned and threw the three wands outside of the fire ring. He then Apparated with a pop.
"Too weak," James said, falling to the ground. Lily had fainted already and Sirius was coughing and trying to back away from the serpents.
I'm not ready to die, James thought.
"Is that another smoke signal, Professor?" Halle asked. They were in the air and were a big distance away from the smoke.
Dumbledore checked the Smokeometer which was hanging on his neck. It wasn't flashing.
"Come on Fawkes, head for the smoke," Dumbledore said.
"I hope we're not too late," Halle said.
He's too young to die, she thought.
A/N: Please review!