A/N: Normally, I would not put a note and just let readers read, but this chapter is a lot darker than previous chapters. I just wanted to forewarn that it may offend or disturb.
Chapter Twenty-Six: The Night Patrol
Lily stood in her dorm room that night, before patrol. She knew that Lucius Malfoy wouldn't be stupid to try anything again, but she couldn't be too prepared in case he decided that he really wanted to finish what he started. Try as she may, she couldn't remove the memory of his mouth on her flesh. She rubbed her arm absentmindedly.
"What is up with you?" Alice asked, looking up at her from the letter that she was penning to Frank.
"What do you mean?" Lily asked startled as she looked at Alice, stopping short of actually looking her in the eye. Lily was distracted as she pulled her hair back into a tie while she was making the effort not to look at Alice splayed across the bed.
"Well, since you left the table, you have been acting strange," Alice said with concern etched in her voice. Lily hesitated, tempted to tell Alice about what had happened between her and Lucius Malfoy. She dropped her eyes to the floor, slightly ashamed.
"I guess I am just a little tired tonight," Lily lied. She was picking invisible lint off the school robes she had pulled on over her uniform.
"Maybe you should skip patrol. James would understand. I could go tell him that you are feeling under the weather tonight," Alice offered. Lily forced a smile and shook her head.
"No, I am fine, and it won't take long for us to sweep the castle," Lily promised. She sighed audibly and headed to the common area to wait for James. He walked in with the Marauders, and Lily barely glanced up at them. She was having a hard time getting that fear of Malfoy out of her heart. She could feel the nausea building up again and she swallowed it down. She refused to let the terror rule her.
"Ready?" James asked as he stood ignored above her. Lily glanced up at him, her eyes failing to meet his.
"Yes," Lily said as she stood to her feet, crossing her arms in front of her. James glanced back at Sirius and Remus, who both shrugged, before he followed her out of the common room. She stood at the portrait hole waiting as he shut it closed behind him.
"Ok, I think the quickest way to get this done is to split up," James said through clenched teeth. He refused to meet her eyes, not that she was trying much herself.
"Split up?" Lily asked as she battled the fear that was creeping up her spine like an icy finger.
"Yeah, you take the whole left side and down, and I will take the right side and up," James said with almost a growl to his voice. Lily bit her lip, forcing the fear at bay.
"Ok, if that is what you want," Lily said with a voice barely louder than a whisper.
"We will meet back here in half an hour," James said. He said no more but headed off to the right, not even looking back at her. Lily fought the urge to call out though she had raised her hand to stop him.
`I don't want to do the dungeons alone,' Lily thought with fresh fear creeping in her heart.
`Grow up and just get your job done,' the voice deep with in her growled at her. Lily headed off to start her patrol relieved that all seemed to be relatively quiet and she began to relax a bit, feeling a bit foolish to think that anything was going to happen to her. Her search of the dungeon area was clear, and there weren't any Slytherin students hanging out in front of the opening to their common room.
Lily felt relief flood over her as she headed towards the classroom, checking to make sure each of the doors were locked tight. She almost felt giddy, glancing at her watch. She had three more rooms to check then she needed to sprint back to the portrait hole and wait for James. Maybe they would talk a while and she could let him know that she was stupid for letting him go.
"Lily?" A voice called from behind her, sending a chill through her. She turned to see Crabbe standing there, looking as ever thuggish.
"What are you doing out after hours?" Lily asked as she turned her back on the door way she was about to check.
"Um, the kitchens," Crabbe said as he walked toward her. Lily froze, her hand inching toward her wand.
"Where is Goyle?" Lily asked. Crabbed blinked at her, as if he didn't understand the question she had asked him.
"What do you mean?" Crabbe asked as he continued in her direction.
"Well, you and Goyle always go every where together," Lily explained. She could feel the tension creeping up her shoulders and her heart had begun to pound loudly in her chest. She could feel the fear consuming her insides.
"I suppose he is with Malfoy," Crabbe said as he pulled even with her in the hall way. He had his wand out, and it was trained on her. Lily glanced away from his face to his wand.
"Crabbe, lower your wand please," Lily said quietly. Crabbe glanced at her and then the wand. He lowered it slightly, enough to make Lily glance away from it.
"Shouldn't you escort me back to my Common Room?" Crabbe asked her. Lily narrowed her eyes at him slightly.
"You are a seventh year student," Lily said distrustfully. "I think I can trust you enough to make it back to your own common area."
"True," Crabbe agreed. He walked past her, to where she was heading. "Where is James Potter tonight?"
"He is patrolling the other side of the school," Lily replied as she watched him check one of the last class room and head inside the room. "Hey, Crabbe, get out of there!"
"Make me!" He called, laughing. Lily sighed and followed him into the classroom.
"Come on, Crabbe, get out of here," Lily said as the door slammed and locked behind her. Lily spun around to see Goyle standing there with Malfoy.
"Lily Evans, daughter of Muggles, wandering so willingly into the Chamber of The Death Eaters," Malfoy drawled slowly. Lily could hear her heart pounding as Malfoy stood there leering at her with a smirk on his pointed face.
"You all should be in your Common Room," Lily said as she tried to take the trepidation out of her voice.
"And what, you are going to make us?" Malfoy laughed coldly. Lily watched him stand between her and the door, her fingers inching toward her wand. Malfoy nodded at Crabbe, who agilely removed her wand from the pocket of her robes.
"Hey," Lily shouted at him.
"You didn't think we would let you have your wand, did you? You are very talented at wandery, but you really aren't all that smart," Malfoy laughed at her. He nodded at Goyle who had left his side and had circled around behind her.
"Where is Severus?" Lily asked him, watching Crabbe and Goyle move just out of her peripheral vision.
"Snape is busy tonight," Malfoy said without humor in his voice.
"If you are having a meeting of the Death Eaters here, why aren't you including him?" Lily asked. She knew she had to keep them talking, she had to stall them.
"Upset Snape isn't here to help you out?" Malfoy taunted. He took a swig from a bottle he was holding. Lily had noticed it for the first time. She had seen a similar bottle in Professor Slughorn's study, nasty potent stuff. Malfoy laughed. "You want some?"
"No, thank you," Lily said as she fought to remain calm. He sneered at her and passed the bottle to Crabbe, who had managed to get rather close to Lily undetected.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked Malfoy. She struggled not to scream as he passed in front of her rather close.
"I am doing what the Dark Lord wants," Malfoy said calmly.
"This isn't like you, Lucius, acting on someone else's authority. I thought that you were the last word in authority," Lily said as she glanced to the window, the doors, the desk, hoping for anything she could use for a weapon. Wandless, she felt vulnerable and helpless.
"The Dark Lord is all authority," Malfoy sneered. "His desires are my desires."
"Lucius, please think about what you are doing. Seventeen is awfully young to give up your soul for someone like Lord Voldemort," Lily pleaded with him as they continued to tighten the ranks around her. Three wizards against one wandless witch was not an advantage.
"You dare speak his name, you filthy Mudblood," Malfoy spat at her angrily, striking her in the face with his hand. She fell to the ground with a cry. She could taste the metallic hue of blood in her mouth and she wiped her mouth with her sleeve, the red lost in the black of her school robes.
Malfoy nodded at Crabbe and Goyle who swept down and jerked her up off the floor, restraining her by her arms. Lily wanted to scream. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. A slick smile crossed Malfoy's face. He continued to watch her out of the corner of his eye while he fumbled with her wand, placing it on one of the shiny black topped tables.
"No sense in trying to scream, Lily," Malfoy told her slowly. "Like you, I am a master at the non-verbal spells. Take her to the table."
Lily began to struggle against Crabbe and Goyle, but she was not match for their brute strength. She had tears that were streaming down her face, unable to contain them any longer. She felt her heart grow cold as Malfoy appeared, just inches from her face. She struggled to look away, but Malfoy's hands were on her face, making it impossible for her to turn her face left or right. She clenched her eyes shut, willed her mind away from her body.
"Are you going to make this easy on me?" Malfoy asked her with his cruelest drawl possible. Lily shook her head hard as Malfoy grabbed a fist full of her hair. "I wouldn't expect it any other way."
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