Dedications: Uh, right.
My freaky dream: This has never happened before. But I liked it.
Chapter 16: A Faux Eavesdropping
Lily awoke a few minutes later with her head in James's lap and a cool, wet cloth on her forehead. She stared up at him, blinking against what seemed to her bright light, and rubbed her tired eyes. She noticed Dinah sitting cross-legged beside them before James leaned to kiss her cheek, moving the cloth to the floor behind her head. He cupped her face with his warm hand, staring down at her with mingled concern and relief.
"I was worried about you," he said softly, without breaking eye contact. "I--I know the letter must've shocked you...."
Lily started to sit up, but a sharp, stinging pain on the back of her head made itself known and she flinched, her hand flying instinctively to the spot; her fingers ran over a small, painful bump.
"Oh," said James heavily, realizing the source of her pain. "Yeah...you really clonked the floor."
Lily scowled, wincing as the bump twinged again. "Thanks for breaking my fall," she griped.
James went pink. "I tried, but it happened so quickly...."
She waved a hand dismissively, the other clutching the back of her head. "Forget about it." She shut her eyes tightly, in agony over her bump and sudden headache.
"Lily?" said Dinah, her voice almost a whisper after her long silence.
"Hmm?" Lily's eyes remained closed and she had a go at massaging her temples, hoping this would help to cure some of the pain.
"Is the letter telling the truth? James told me it says...your mother's alive."
Lily felt as though she'd entered a freezer when Dinah brought back the memory of the coded letter. She hadn't had much time to mull it over before; the very idea that one of her parents could still be alive had shocked her into a faint. She felt her heart begin to beat faster again and her palms start to sweat. She wanted to believe the letter; she missed her mother terribly. But who would force Mrs. Evans to write a departure letter? And what was maison serpent?
"I don't know, love," she confessed, suddenly bordering on tears. She wiped a small trickle from one of her eyes and continued in a wistful whisper, "Wouldn't it be lovely, though, Dinah? You could meet your grandmum." An image of Mrs. Evans embracing and doting Dinah popped into Lily's head and several tears leaked out of her eyes.
"Don't cry," said Dinah, scooting closer to Lily. She reached toward Lily's face and wiped a few of her tears away. Adopting an unexpectedly reassuring expression, she took one of Lily's hands in both of hers. "You'll get your mother back. I got one, didn't I? You were in the orphanage, too."
Lily smiled at Dinah's logic, giving a watery chuckle. "I hope you're right. Only...I don't call my mum 'mother' like you do. I call her Mummy."
"You do?" asked James and Dinah at the same time. They looked at each other and smiled at the coincidence.
"Of course!" replied Lily, smiling though she sniffled and wiped her eyes. "Don't you? She liked for us to call her Mummy because she said it kept us young. We both called her Mummy, Petunia and I."
Dinah, who had been contemplating her clasped hands in her lap, asked, "Would you like me to call you Mummy, too, Lily?"
Replacing the icy cold, tingling shock came a warmer feeling, as though Lily were bundled in her bed.
"Only if you want to," she said with her slight smile.
An almost surprised-looking grin crept over Dinah's lips. "I do want to," she said eagerly.
"Why didn't you before, then?" wondered Lily, a tad put out at the missed opportunities.
"I didn't know if you wanted me to." Dinah's smile disappeared, leaving her rather tense in appearance. "I'm not your real baby."
Lily's insides felt weighted down and another shock coursed through her, this one less severe. Experiencing immense sympathy for the sad-looking child in front of her, Lily pulled her into an embrace and kissed her forehead.
"What does it matter if we're not related by blood?" said Lily, looking Dinah in her bright blue eyes. "I love you just as much as I would any biological child of mine." Dinah grinned, significantly more cheerful, and stared at Lily with great affection. The latter, wanting the child to know precisely the extent of her importance, added, "You're the most important person in my life, you know that?"
Dinah didn't move for a moment. She held Lily's gaze with her mouth slightly parted, too touched to speak. Beside her, Lily thought she saw James's face darken momentarily.
"Am I really?" she breathed, eyes a fraction wider. An amazed and hopeful smile began to appear.
Lily felt an emotional lump rising in her throat and her eyes glistened with wetness when she replied, smiling, "You most certainly are. So no more talk of you not being my real baby; you're very much my baby."
Lily had expected Dinah to be much more pleased than she looked at this statement. "I'll be your baby," agreed the child. "But I'm not a baby...Mummy."
They, as well as James, who was smiling along with them, grinned at Dinah's use of the word.
"Oh, yes you are," said Lily, laughing with a similar lightness to that of the morning's. She pulled Dinah close again and kissed the top of her head.
"If I'm your baby," said Dinah, making herself comfortable in Lily's lap, "then you're James's baby, Mummy." Lily felt proud and loved at hearing the term again, and understood her own mother's love for it.
"James's baby?" Lily repeated, glancing at him and back to the child in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"He always hugs and kisses you, and he's bigger than you are, too. Plus, I saw him give you money; that means he takes care of you."
The child's observance impressed the two, and for a moment their thoughts drifted entirely from the message.
"I suppose you could say that," conceded James, smiling thoughtfully. He placed a hand on Lily's knee. "But it's a bit different with us."
"Because you want to marry her, right?" asked Dinah, half-smiling. Blushes ensued from her adoptive parents. Lily busied herself with a lock of her hair, bracing herself for James's reply.
What he said, however, did not answer Dinah's question.
"Ready to discuss the letter, Lily? You are feeling better, aren't you?" He checked her over at a glance, making sure she'd recovered from her faint.
Lily came back from her blissful, loving, motherly side-trip and a weighty feeling filled her stomach. She swallowed, moistening her dry throat. "Yes...if you are."
He didn't respond right away. His gaze fixed absently on the far window, Lily guessed he was choosing which of his questions to ask first.
"Are we dealing with a Muggle situation? Did your parents--wait a second." He snatched the letter from the floor, brow furrowed with both worry and puzzlement. "Maison Serpent," read James slowly and deliberately. "I know that name..."
Lily blinked, startled. "Do you? Where from? It has something to do with the Death Eaters, doesn't it?"
James stared at her, taken aback and somewhat impressed. " How did you--? Not many people know that...."
"My parents were supposedly killed by them...I just figured...." muttered Lily. "Where did you hear the term?"
"At the Ministry one day when I went to work with Mum. I heard her talking about it with the other Wizengamot members...Lily, you'd better hope your mum's not there."
Better anywhere alive than dead, right? she told herself. "Why?"
"That's where Voldemort is rumored to live," explained James grimly.
Lily had guessed as much, but that didn't stop the chill going down her back. "I just don't understand this whole ordeal," she said, feeling miserable. "Why would the Death Eaters set my third floor on fire and leave their mark only to kidnap one of my parents? What are they on about?"
James's forehead crinkled. "Set your house on fire? That doesn't sound like something they'd do. I'd say they've got something else planned for your mum."
"Why set the house on fire, then?"
"To cause you additional grief, probably," suggested James, sending another wave of misery through Lily's chest. "Do a bit of damage, as well."
Lily sat in thought for a moment or two, her face impassive. "Where is this Maison Serpent?" she asked suddenly, sounding startlingly determined.
"It's some huge castle in Albania," said James. "That's all I know."
"You've got to know more than that!" exclaimed Lily, a note of hysteria in her voice. "My Mum could be dying right now!"
James shook his head in protest. "She isn't. Whatever they're planning, it's going to involve you, too. They're probably working out some way to bring you there."
Lily gasped, remembering the dinner in Little Whinging. "Rookwood! He must've been tailing me!" At James's confounded expression, she added, "I saw him watching me when I stepped outside the restaurant that night in Little Whinging. Oh, Merlin, I was so stupid, James! I should've told you, but I worried you'd think I was being silly...oh, it's so clear now--this must have something to do with Malfoy."
James's expression hardened, his eyes narrowing. "Malfoy," he muttered contemptuously. "You're probably right, Lily. Dirty, rotten Death Eater scum he is, and he's just the type to...we've got to leave right now." He got to his feet and checked his pocket for his wand.
"But--"
"There's no way he'll be expecting us this soon...none of them have tried anything yet, we'll be early...we may be able to save her with our advantage, Lily...." His eyes were alive and alert with strategies in the making.
"But James," started Lily, helping Dinah to stand, "we have no idea where to go."
He raked his fingers through his hair, eyes darting around the room beneath his silver-rimmed glasses as though he expected an answer to lie on a shelf or the dresser.
"Where are we going?" asked Dinah in a yawn. She clung to Lily around her waist and leaned against her, eyes half-closed.
"You are not going anywhere," said Lily sternly. "You're going to get into bed and go to sleep."
"But Mummy, I want to go with you!" she whined. "Please, can I go?"
"No," said Lily more harshly than she'd meant to. "It's too dangerous."
The child's eyes filled with tears. "But you're going! And James is going!"
"That's right, we are. We're grown up and you're not. You'd be killed if you went. Now put on your jim-jams and get into bed." Lily pointed toward the dresser.
Complaining loudly about the situation's unfairness and throwing in terms such as 'big meanie' to describe Lily, Dinah stomped to her dresser drawer, removed her pajamas, and stormed to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her.
"Moody little thing, isn't she?" said James, almost grinning.
"She's overtired," Lily told him. "My sister used to storm about all the time when we were kids; it was just as funny as Dinah. Drove my mum up the wall, though."
A noise from behind them stopped James from replying. Peter stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. He was breathing heavily as though he'd run the whole way to Dinah and Lily's room.
"Peter?" said James incredulously. "What on earth are you doing here?"
After a glance at Lily and Dinah, who had just exited the bathroom, sulking, he said, still panting, "No time--the pub, James, I was in the Hog's Head drinking mead and I heard--Malfoy and his Death Eater friends, James--they're--something awful's going to--you've got to come with me--"
"Come with you?" said James, flustered. "Where? Did you hear the locatio--"
"Yes, yes," said Peter in a hurry, his breathing calming down a bit, "that's why you've got to come--your parents, Evans--we need to go right now--side-along Apparition--"
"Wait a second," cut in Lily, flustered as well, "shouldn't we take a moment to think before rushing off? Shouldn't we make sure we're prepared? This isn't some silly little duel we're talking about--"
"My shoes." James was staring at his bare feet which were half-hidden by the hem of his robes. "Back in a moment," he said, and rushed out of the room.
Lily used the time to check for her own wand and to ponder the usefulness of her various possessions. Nothing other than her wand seemed of much use.
James stumbled back into the room, his feet entangled by his untied shoelaces. Irritated, he pointed his wand at the laces and snapped, "Tie." They did so. Lily then noticed another striking feature of James's appearance; bundled in his arms was a length of silvery grey fabric that, in some areas, rendered his arms invisible.
"My invisibility cloak," explained James, following her questioning gaze. He jammed it into one of his robe pockets. "It'll come in handy."
Lily nodded in agreement. "I'll bet."
"Ready?" inquired Peter from the doorway.
"One moment." Lily turned to Dinah, who was sitting at the end of the bed, stroking Max's fur. Without warning, she pulled the child into a hug and pecked her cheek.
"I love you, Dinah. That's why you can't come with us."
Dinah was unmoved by this statement. "Are you going to be back in the morning?"
Lily hesitated. "I don't know."
"Is your mother coming home with you?"
A tingling feeling ran down her arms. "I don't know, Dinah." She kissed her forehead. "I hope so."
"What do I tell James's mother and daddy if you're not back when I wake up?"
"Tell them we've gone to my house for some of my forgotten things," said Lily. "And don't leave this house. You could be in danger. Don't play with anything that looks dodgy, and don't go outdoors no matter what."
Dinah frowned and crossed her arms, resuming her pout. "What am I supposed to do until you come home, then? I want to play outside."
"Read your new book. Play with your cat. It won't be too long...hopefully. Just listen to what I've told you, okay?"
The child sighed. "Okay."
Lily gave her another hug and kiss on the cheek. "See you later."
"Bye," she muttered, still sulking. James leaned to hug and kiss her goodbye as well, and then he, Lily, and Peter stepped into the hallway, shutting the door behind them.
"What's this place like, Peter?" asked Lily in a whisper. "Are you sure you've got the location right? My mum's still alive, isn't she?"
"Of course I've got it right," he snapped. "How many Maison Serpents do you think there are?"
Lily opened her mouth to retort, but James quieted her with a hand on her shoulder.
"Let's not fight, all right? We're all on edge, but we've got to do this as a team; we don't need to be arguing amongst ourselves."
Peter and Lily looked on the verge of disagreeing , but decided to keep further bad-tempered remarks to themselves.
"Right, then," said James, observing their cooperation. "Lily, take my arm"--he offered it to her--"and I'll take Peter's. Be ready to take out your wand as soon as we arrive, both of you."
"Are we set, then?" questioned Peter once they were all in place.
"Yeah." "Yes."
At this moment, Lily switched her grip from James's arm to his waist, as she was terrified of Apparition, and pressed her face into his robes.
She didn't see Peter roll his eyes.
The compressing feeling she was currently experiencing always terrified her, because any sort of encompassment brought back memories of the hour she'd spent shut in her sister's toy chest when she was five, punishment from Petunia for tearing off the head of her doll when her sister didn't allow her to play.
But soon enough it was over and they were standing in a darkened forest with their wands out in front of them; they had sense enough not to cast light, and their eyes were adjusting rapidly as it was.
"I knew you'd got it wrong," hissed Lily bad-temperedly to Peter, eyeing the surrounding trees in annoyance. "We're in some forest! There's no castle around!"
Peter, clearly impatient, pointed behind Lily toward a thinning area of trees. They were roughly forty feet away from the edge of the forest, where the trees met a beach and the black soil of the forest mingled with white sand. It didn't occur to Lily or James to ask him how he knew about the forest.
"You mean it's on the beach?" said James in disbelief. "Right where anyone could see?"
"You don't think they might've hexed and charmed the area?" said Peter mock thoughtfully, before he could stop himself. At their questioning looks, he turned a bit pink, shrugged, and mumbled, "It's only common sense, isn't it?"
James cast an odd look at Peter and said, "Well, let's get a move on, shall we? We're wasting our advantage."
Grateful for the lack of crisp fallen leaves upon the forest floor, they walked to the very edge of the forest, halting at the sight of a massive castle in the distance. Lily made an unspoken connection to the sinister castles she'd seen as a child, the ones illustrating old Disney movies she'd once found so entertaining. There was no way any benign being could reside in such a building. Even the thick ivy covering the castle didn't rob it of its fright; it appeared to be squeezing the walls. The size of the castle didn't help much, either. Lily's mother could be anywhere inside. It might take them days just to find her.
Lily started to take a step onto the beach, but Peter yanked her back into the forest by her robes before her foot could meet the ground.
"What did I tell you about the hexes?" he said, frowning at her. "They're all over the beach."
"How would you know?" Lily shot back at him angrily. James's mouth formed a thin, tense line. He wasn't happy that his companions were wasting time bickering.
"Didn't I say I heard Malfoy talking to his mates?" snapped Peter. "I think they'd know a bit about the castle's security, being Death Eaters, and all!" He sounded a tad condescending, but neither Lily nor James gave that aspect of his tone a second thought.
"How do we deactivate the hexes, then, Wormtail?" asked James in an obvious attempt to alleviate the tension. "Where exactly are they?"
Peter glanced around nervously before answering, particularly at Maison Serpent; he leaned close to James and explained in a whisper, "It doesn't matter where their precise locations are, really, because I heard Malfoy reminding one of them of the incantation that deactivates the whole lot of them."
"Won't someone inside the castle realize that the security's missing?" asked Lily in a much more pleasant tone than she'd been using with him.
Peter paused, seemingly considering this. "I imagine it happens all the time, what with all the Death Eaters coming in and out. They probably won't."
"What's the incantation, then?" said James, once again displaying his eagerness to take full advantage of their extra time.
Peter motioned for Lily and James to spread apart so he could stand between them with a full view of the beach. He swept his wand from left to right and said, "Erasum!"
They heard a series of faint pops over the beach and guessed, by Peter's satisfied expression, that he'd succeeded in deactivating the hexes.
"I'd wear the cloak while you're walking, well, anywhere from now on," suggested Peter, gesturing to James's pocket. "They'll probably be watching for you. And mind your footprints, as well."
While James pulled his invisibility cloak from his pocket, Lily continued interrogating Peter.
"Anything else we ought to know?"
"Actually, there is, now that you mention it," said Peter. Lily silently thanked herself for her question; otherwise, she and James could've been lacking crucial information. "You don't want to enter through the front. There's a hidden entrance round back in the rock foundation. You've got to follow it around from that chunk over there"--he pointed at a large bit of rock that touched the beach--"and you'll see a cluster that looks as if you could separate it. Tap it with your wand and say 'dissendium.' I don't know where it'll lead--Malfoy and his mates didn't discuss it--but you can enter undetected that way. He--Malfoy, that is--was selecting back-up for their plan, and telling them how to get in 'the quick way' he called it."
"What are their plans, exactly?" prompted James, looking full of adrenaline. "Did you hear?"
Peter hesitated. "No, they didn't mention. They only said things about killings, that's all I heard."
Lily realized something then about the tone of Peter's information sharing. "You're not coming with us, are you?" she asked.
Peter appeared frightened at the idea. "Oh, no. Of course I'm not. Me, in there? No, I just wanted to pass on what I'd heard to you, Evans. Couldn't bear the thought of you losing your parents...again." He sounded so convincingly sincere that Lily smiled at him, noticeably grateful for the first time that evening.
She chuckled, sounding more anxious than amused. "Guess I'm lucky you fancied a mead this evening, huh?"
Peter smiled. "And that Malfoy and co. did, too."
"Well," said Lily awkwardly, extending her hand, "thanks very much, Peter." They shook hands and he nodded.
"Don't mention it." He took a few steps backward and tucked his wand back into his pocket. "Good luck."
He Disapparated.
The absence of Peter brought in nasty feelings of dread and, in Lily's case, a touch of nausea. They'd received their instructions and their path had been cleared; it was time to enter the castle.
James swung the cloak over them, leaving a generous train under which Lily could remove their footprints without being seen. The walk to the edge of the beach was a long one, exacerbated by a smooth, limestone walkway leading to the castle's entrance. It felt like a death march to Lily. They reached the foundation of rock surrounding the castle without any sign of movement from the surrounding beach or from the castle's entrance. Peter's advice had been right on target.
James helped Lily up the steep, bumpy chunk of rock that formed a narrow walkway around the castle. Looking down at the shallow sea below them, Lily spotted two more unpleasant features of Maison Serpent, one significantly more gruesome than the other; tall, jagged rocks that would likely skewer anyone who happened to fall jutted upward from the sand and white, sickening dead bodies bobbed around just below the surface of the water, swaying with the waves.
"Disgusting," remarked James, making a face at the Inferi. "Absolutely disgusting."
"Terrifying, more like," said Lily, moving further from the edge of the pathway.
"Not hardly," said James in protest. "You've just got to know how to fend them off. It's simple, really, though not many people know the weakness of an Inferius."
"What is it, then?" challenged Lily.
"Fire," said James. "A simple 'incendio' usually does the trick."
"Oh, of course you'd know the trick, James Potter," said Lily, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. "Because you know absolutely everything, don't you?"
James stopped walking just as they were about to turn the corner to the back of the castle. He grinned at Lily and kissed her briefly on the mouth. "That's right. I do."
Lily rolled her eyes again, but with the addition of a smile. "Keep moving, James."
They carefully edged their way around the corner. In back, the rock took on a form similar to that of the path's beginning rather than the smooth finish of the walkway itself. Their walking area was significantly larger, at least four times the width of the path. Right away they spotted the rock formation Peter had mentioned; it was in the center of the cluster of rock, several inches higher than the surrounding stone.
James stepped forward first, leading Lily to stand with him on the perimeter of the concealed entrance so the cloak would cover his wand.
"Dissendium!" he whispered, and the rock began to move apart.
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