I'll Fight For You
By Hazelmist/Summerskies
Disclaimer: I highly doubt anyone's been crazy enough to try this in an L/J fanfic before.
Chapter 13: Open Sesame
Minutes, hours, days; I'm not sure how long I've been sitting here. After I spoke with Grace and ran back to my room, I leaned back against the door and slid down until I felt the hardwood floor beneath me, and there I stayed…until now.
The door opens and I find myself lying on the floor, looking up at James.
"Sorry," he apologizes.
"Don't you knock?" I ask, irritably.
"Have you heard of a bed? Or maybe a chair?" he snorts.
"I happen to be very comfortable right here," I insist, closing my eyes and resting my hands on my chest.
"I'm sure my mother would appreciate the fact that you find no need to use the beautiful furniture in our house."
I lift an arm, lazily offering him my hand. He sloppily kisses it before rudely dropping it back onto my chest.
"Ew, that's disgusting James." I sit up, rubbing my hand in an attempt to rid my skin of his saliva. Merlin knows how many girls he's been swapping spit with since puberty. I could have half of Hogwarts germs on my hand right now, and if I happened to touch my face I could become deathly ill. Seriously!
"I do not have cooties," he retorts.
"Maybe you don't, but your past girlfriend's might've," I grumble, reminding myself to wash my hands at least one hundred times before I go to bed. Oh my god. What if he kissed McLaggen? GROSS!
"Gracie wanted me to get you," James reminds me.
"Oh, yeah," My heart sinks, remembering where Gracie's going tonight.
"Are you coming with us?"
No. But I plan on making sure that no one goes tonight. I have to stop her. I jump to my feet heading for Gracie's room.
"They're already downstairs," James informs me.
Right, I knew that. Just testing you. I redirect my path to the stairs, but James's voice stops me again.
"You're not intending to go out dressed like that, are you?"
I look down at my outfit. I'm wearing a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt, the same thing that I wore on the train.
"Um, I don't think they'll care if I'm dressed up or not," I point out.
James holds up my cloak.
"Oh, thanks," I take it from him and reluctantly put it on.
We're not actually going, are we? I look around hoping that James's parents will notice that we're getting dressed to go out, and try to stop us.
"They're gone Lily, they went out to a Ministry Ball," he reads my mind.
"Oh."
Gracie must've been planning this thing for weeks. She knew they were going to go out this night, and she knew that it was within walking distance. There's one thing that she didn't count on though; me. I'm a force to be reckoned with. I plan on giving her a piece of my mind. I've always been the logical one and it's time I put a stop to this little adventure before Gracie's hopes get crushed, again. I can't watch her fall again.
Sirius and Gracie are waiting for us in the kitchen. They've been arguing about something, but Gracie's laughing and Sirius is grinning. All afternoon I've been in the guestroom, creating a convincing, persuasive argument in my mind. The words, which only moments before were on the tip of my tongue suddenly die on my lips when I see the look on Gracie's face. Her eyes are shining brightly with excitement. She's been anticipating this for weeks; plotting and dying to check it out. This is anyone's dream come true.
"Come on, let's go!" Gracie eagerly leads the way as if we're going on some sort of adventure.
I don't have the courage or the heart to stop her…yet.
I pretend that we are going on an adventure as the four of us silently step outside into the freezing cold air. There's no need for our wands, because a fat full moon lights the way. It's one of those nights that are so insanely bright that you swear it's daylight. Gracie couldn't have had better luck if she drank Felix Felicis.
Gracie and Sirius silently walk ahead of me exchanging an occasional excited, slightly insane, grin. They're both mental. I feel James brush my shoulder with his own as he falls into step beside me. I'm surprised because unlike Sirius and Gracie he's not grinning like a loon or looking like a mad scientist who's completely lost it.
I touch his wrist, drawing his hazel eyes to me. He looks at Gracie and Sirius, shaking his head and then leans close to my ear.
"This wasn't my idea," he whispers so only I can hear. "I don't like it."
I squeeze his hand in silent agreement, dropping it. While we both know that Gracie wants this more than anything, we're afraid she'll get hurt. She can't afford to be hurt again, there's only so much a recently orphaned sixteen year old can take.
The trees thin and the mouth of the path suddenly opens onto a gated creepy clearing. Taking a deep breath, I gather up my courage and face my best friend.
"You can't do this," I tell her firmly, deliberately turning my eyes away from the scene that seems right out of a muggle horror film.
"You're not my mother, Lily," Gracie laughs at the irony of this statement.
"Gracie this is not…right," I struggle and fail to find a word to explain the situation we're in right now. Gracie merely looks amused at my attempt and with a flick of her wand flattens the gate and enters the graveyard.
"I won't let you do this!" I say, stubbornly chasing after her. My voice reaches a strange pitch, but I don't care. Let's just get the hell out of here. I don't like this. I don't like this at all.
"Scared Lily?" Gracie asks, scathingly.
"NO!" But a part of me is terrified, but not because we're in a graveyard of all places but because of what Gracie's planning on doing.
"This is stupid!" I cry, grabbing her arm.
Gracie wrenches her arm from my grip so fast, that I nearly lose my balance. She turns angrily towards me, her blue eyes flashing dangerously. I force myself to meet her eyes with a steady gaze of my own even though a part of me wants to run and duck behind James.
"Listen to me Lily! You don't know a thing about stupidity or anything else for that matter! You've lived a sheltered life in the muggle world, oblivious to all that's been happening here, safe from the hands of a growing darkness," she hisses.
"Not by choice!" I protest.
"You're so naïve! Your parents are still alive! You were bawling your eyes out because your parents were SAVED!" she yells in my face.
Tears fill my eyes but I don't dare let them fall.
"Do you know how much I would give to be you? Do you know what it's like to lose someone close to you, let alone three? It's like losing a part of you, watching half of your body go numb, shrivel up and die. You go on as if…as if…you're a ghost, a mere shadow of who you used to be," she stops, breathing heavily and I notice tears sparkling in her own blue eyes. And that's when I see it, the determination. There's no stopping her, she HAS to do this.
Impulsively, I throw my arms around her.
"I'm sorry! I'm only looking out for you, you're my best friend and I don't want to see you get hurt again. I'm sorry," I blubber.
Gracie hugs me back, the anger fading.
"No, it's alright. I'd probably commit you to St. Mungos if the situation was reversed," she jokes as we pull away.
"I love you too Gracie," I say sarcastically, but I know she wouldn't commit me.
"You can turn back if you want," Gracie says hesitantly, nodding toward the entrance where the gate's sprung up again.
"No, I'm coming with you."
Gracie smiles and leads the way down the beaten path with me following. The cracked, crumbling tombstones rise up around us and I shiver. Some of these must've been here long before the Stone Age. It gets colder as the tombstones start sitting up straighter, their words clearer with dates within the last couple of centuries. It's hard not to think of all those muggle movies I used to watch with my sister as we walk through the graveyard. I stick close to Gracie's side, feeling James's warm breath close to my neck and listening to Sirius's steady footsteps, but I'm deathly afraid.
A marble building, glowing eerily in the bright light of the moon, rises up before us.
I gasp.
The mausoleum.
Who knows how many dead bodies are in there, and we're going to walk right in as if we own the stupid place. Oh dear, oh god, this is dumb. I hate Ophelia and her crazy ideas, it's all her fault! As we shuffle through the snow, the two torches on either side of the massive door suddenly spring to life. James steps past me and lays his hand on the door with Gracie. The door shudders and dissolves. Sirius grabs one of the lighted torches from the entrance, Gracie lights her wand and they disappear into the black opening of the tomb. I sway on my feet. There are dead bodies in there, several dead bodies. Not ghosts, bodies.
"Lily, let's go!" James urges.
I swallow my fear, lighting my wand before James drags me into the tomb after him. The door solidifies behind me, plunging us all into the suffocating darkness. Slowly, my eyes adjust to the flickering light of Sirius's torch, the moving light of Gracie's wand, and the quivering one from my own. I inhale, steadying my trembling hand.
I look around, noting that we haven't even entered the tomb, not really. The wide passage way that we're standing in suddenly drops off like a cliff's edge into a steep staircase. I thought in mausoleums the bodies were above ground but apparently in the magical world they make it ten times scarier by making you go underground.
At the bottom of the staircase is another door, smaller than the first, but equally frightening. Gracie and James both place their hands on it, and once again the door dissolves and solidifies behind me as it did before. The door opens onto another passage way, similar to the first, except that the ceiling's a lot lower and instead of a staircase at the end there are five doors waiting for us.
James lights his wand and heads toward the first one. Gracie goes to investigate the last one. Sirius goes to number four and I take door number three. The words are hard to make out, there's so much dust on it. I lift my hand to wipe the dust.
"NO!" Sirius shouts and James seizes my wrist in midair. Gracie looks terrified.
"Don't touch that, don't touch anything, okay?" James says, squeezing my wrist so hard that I won't forget. I squirm and he lets go, relief flooding his face.
"Why can't I touch anything?" I ask, following James as he clears the dust from the door that I was looking at.
"Because," Gracie answers, as she scrutinizes the fifth door again. "You don't have any magical blood in you."
"I'm a witch!" I remind them.
"Of course you are, but you're also a muggleborn," Gracie continues, running her hand lightly over the door.
"So?"
"Lily, James and Gracie are the only ones that can get through the doors. Their ancestors created this tomb with the intention that only people with their blood could get in. I probably have some of their blood, but I'm not taking any chances. If we were to touch anything in here, the results could be deadly," Sirius explains, patiently.
Gracie smiles gratefully at him, and continues trying to decipher the fifth door. James joins her and they have a brief discussion before making a decision.
Gracie flashes the light in our eyes.
"Come on, I think it's this way," she beckons to the fifth door.
"You think?" I squeak. What happens if we go down the wrong one? What happens if we get lost? Is it like a maze where we get lost in the catacombs, going round and round, deeper and deeper into the ground, never to surface? I need to lay off on the horror movies, seriously.
James and Gracie open the door again, and Sirius gives me a slight push when I hesitate. I recall the small tip that he just gave me and hurry after Gracie and James, sticking close to them like glue.
Gracie stops short and I bump into James. Sirius comes very close to lighting my hair on fire.
"Damn, this isn't it!" Gracie steps forward revealing a dead end and…
I scream.
James clamps a hand over my mouth, muffling the noise. Gracie and Sirius twist around fearfully, moving their light to find the source of my scare. The shadowy figure, which I mistook as a walking corpse, becomes a mere suit of armor in the light. I relax, and James removes his hand.
"No one's going to hear us, they're dead," I grumble, blushing in embarrassment. I carefully avoid the other's eyes but I can see Gracie and Sirius out of the corner of my eye, suppressing a laugh.
"Don't be so sure," James says softly, turning to go.
I steal a look over my shoulder, watching as the silent Knight falls back into the shadows and sinks into the darkness. What an unusual place for a suit of armor…
"Come on, Lily!" James calls. The light of his wand catches on the ruby sword hilt of the Knight. I tear my eyes from the sparkling rubies, hurrying after them.
"Let's try number two," Gracie suggests, picking a random number.
So we try number two.
The second tunnel's thick with cobwebs. I mean it was filled. It was disgusting how many cobwebs were in there. There were probably species of spiders in there that mankind thinks are extinct. They've been spinning webs in there for centuries, I swear. Gracie wrinkles her nose in disgust.
When James informs us that the writing's not even in English, but in runes, we were all more than happy to turn around.
"What's behind door number three?"
I felt like I was on a game show. It's a game of chance. You never know what might be waiting for you on the other side of the door. Perhaps there'd be money, perhaps there'd be a trip, perhaps there'd be a brand new car, or a bedroom set, or maybe some bodies, or perhaps…
"Turn around!"
Gracie wheels around, her blue eyes filled with fear and her face colorless. James runs back to reopen the door. Gracie pushes me in front of her, grabbing Sirius with her other hand. A low moan echoes through the chamber sending a chill down my spine. The three of us run for the open door, never looking back.
"Wh-what was that?" I pant, crouching down beside James to catch my breath.
"I have no idea." Gracie shivers, leaning back against the wall. "But I never want to hear that ever again."
We all shudder, the bone chilling moan echoing in our minds.
"Two more left, they have to be in one of them." Gracie looks less enthusiastic about investigating the last two tunnels now. It seems to have finally sunk in that this isn't an adventure.
Even so Gracie bravely leads the way through the fourth tunnel.
This one, unlike the others, actually has bodies. Hundreds and hundreds of bodies. This round room is entirely made out of marble and is the heart of mausoleum. Coffins line the walls bearing plaques of people long forgotten.
Our footsteps reverberate through the room as we cautiously enter. In awe, I survey the marble fixtures filled with elegant designs, occasionally catching my eye with flash of gold or a glittering jewel. Statues glare at us as we pass, and faceless creatures open their mouths in a silent, eternal song.
"This way," Gracie whispers, but her voice echoes over and over again.
I cross the room with Sirius, following James and Gracie to a statue of a lion. The lion surveys us with ruby eyes as we pass behind him and into one of the narrow passageways off of the circular marble room. The dates here are more recent, ranging from the late eighteenth century to the twentieth century. At the very end, three black coffins stand apart from the rest. They sparkle and glow and I realize that it's because there's hardly any dust on them.
"This is it!" Gracie's voice quivers with excitement, slicing through the heavy air like a knife. The three of us join her around the middle one. Anxiety builds as we look from one to the other and then back down at the waiting coffin.
Gracie traces the letters, her hand shaking uncontrollably.
Hope Adams
Loving Wife, Sister and Mother
1935 - 1976
"Well," James watches Gracie expectantly and we wait impatiently.
"I'm not sure if I can," she whispers, recoiling. Doubt surfaces in her face for the first time. "Ophelia said that it was empty, but what if it's not…" Her face flushes, unshed tears suddenly shining in her blue eyes. But she wants to know, she won't be able to rest if she doesn't know.
"I'll do it," I whisper.
Gracie, James, and Sirius look up surprised and stunned, since I was the person who fought against coming here in the first place. To be honest with you, I don't know what I'm thinking. I only know that I have to be the one to do it, for Gracie.
"I think you better turn around, just in case," I tell her gently. Gracie nods, giving me a grateful look before turning her back on me. I watch as she folds her arms on her brother's coffin, burying her head in her hands.
I look up, my eyes meeting James's.
"You better do the same."
James hesitates, but slowly joins Gracie, wrapping a comforting arm around her.
With trembling hands I try to find the latch. Sirius gently pushes my unsteady hand away, and picks them one by one with a strange looking piece of metal that looks oddly like a muggle paperclip.
When he finishes he looks to me. I can't believe we're actually going to do this.
"I'll push, you pull."
He nods and moves to the other side of the coffin, grabbing the lid as I begin to heave it open. Honestly, the weight of the thing, it's almost as if they're trying to keep the body from escaping. I mean really, it's not like it can get up and walk away. A minute later, Sirius has most of the lid off, and I realize that it's me who's going to get the first glimpse and discover the answer to the question Gracie's been dying to know.
"One more," Sirius pants.
I grit my teeth and give it a final shove. I hear Sirius pulling on the other side, and I know it's open. I peek inside, and immediately regret it. A white lumpy form, wrapped in many white blankets rests in the coffin. My stomach churns at the thought of the crumbling woman lying under all of that linen, and I sway on my feet. Sirius turns away sadly, laying a hand on Gracie's shoulder. I hear Gracie emit a sob and watch her crumble.
I grab the edge of the coffin, squeezing my eyes shut.
We shouldn't have come here.
Ophelia was wrong.
The coffin isn't empty.
Hope Adams is dead.
The room blurs as I feel my own eyes feel with the damned tears. There's a corpse lying in front of me, not just any corpse, but one that's been lying here for almost three months, rotting and breeding maggots and it belongs to someone I knew. The floor moves, the room tips. Everything's spinning out of control. I'm so dizzy, my head's pounding. I cling to the coffin, leaning forward.
I choke and clamp a hand over my mouth. Oh no, I'm going to hurl. Swallowing hard, I try to steady my swaying body, by reaching out for the nearest thing.
My hand plunges into the fabric, sinking down through the layers and layers but never quite reaching the bottom or the thing that I'm dreading... the flesh, or, what's left of it. I recoil, but my hand upsets the fabric and for a split second…
A motionless bulging yellow eye looks up at me.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!"
I scream and scream and scream and scream...
I feel my eyes roll back into my head, consciousness slipping…
"Lily!"
And I fall.
A/N: Thanks so much to everyone that took the time to review! So, now you know what Grace is up to and that I watch way too many horror movies. I'd love to hear from you and constructive criticism is always welcome!
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