It's not mine. It's all J.K. Rowling's and 20th Century Fox.

Chapter 4: In Which Lily Finds el Corazon

or

In Which Lily Learns the Hazards of Driving Blind

Lily last night:

As soon as her head hit the pillow Lily was asleep.

ooo…ooo

She woke up feeling warm and thinking the floor was remarkably soft; then she realized she wasn't on the floor but in the bed. Bolting up, Lily's eyes caught the sight of James, fast asleep on the floor where she should have been. That man, she thought, desperately trying not to smile fondly at his shirtless form.

He groaned and rolled over, his eyes flickering open and meeting hers. He smiled sheepishly at her and Lily startled herself by rolling her eyes and patting the space next to her on the bed, inviting him up. James practically tripped over the comforter as he tried to move too fast. He ended up sprawled next to her and she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the corner of his mouth.

"Wasn't I supposed to be on the floor?" She asked.

He eyed her skeptically. "What kind of man do you think I am? If you're going to court a girl, you damn well have to do it right! Letting her sleep on the floor will definitely not help your case, take it from someone who knows."

Lily laughed, "You are so very noble." He smirked and leaned in for a kiss, she ducked out of his way.

"I was thinking, James," she said quietly, and James stopped his attempts at getting a kiss out of her, "Maybe you were right about el Corazon being what will help Marlene. I … I think we should go find it. We found the first landmark, so it wouldn't be too hard."

"No, it wouldn't," James agreed, "But you didn't want to …"

"No, it's the right thing to do," Lily said, cutting him off.

She'd thought it through and tried playing it out with the map and with the stone and figured out real quick, which would make the best impression and get Marlene safely back with her to England. There was also the problem of what exactly this 'el Corazon' was. What if it was a weapon and whoever these kidnappers were used it against innocent people? Lily could still give them the map and not tell them about el Corazon. You couldn't let the world go to hell if there was a way to stop it. Everyone knew that.

"Then that's what we'll do," James said, tracing her jaw with a calloused finger.

He smiled almost impishly at her and said, "I went out last night after you were asleep."

"Oh?" Lily said, stifling a yawn.

"Hmm … well, I ran into these rather shady traveling thieves who tried to rob me blind,"

"Really ... "

"You bet, and in order to convince them not to, I had to buy something from them, so I got you this." James reached over to the nightstand and pulled up a golden necklace with a heart hanging off of it. "I doubt it's real gold, but it looks nice and it is appropriate."

"Yes, el Corazon," Lily said, accepting it from him and thinking about how it was doubly appropriate since her heart was on the line. She didn't know what to make of the gift, though. James' story was obviously fabricated, so he must have gone out and bought it. Or perhaps it was an impulse buy or he was trying to impress her for some reason. Or perhaps, just perhaps, he actually liked her. But if that was the case, why didn't he simply tell her so.

James helped her fasten it around her neck and gave her an amazing kiss. He was in the process of deepening it when the sound of what had to be at least five cars pulling into the square split the morning calm. James pulled back and exchanged a glance with Lily.

Twenty seconds later they were climbing out of the window and inching around the building on a narrow ledge to the water drain, so they could climb down without the police, who were currently occupying the town square, seeing them. James went first, which was quite lucky, seeing as Lily proved her clumsiness by falling straight into his arms. She'd never liked drainpipes anyway.

James hopped into an empty car parked right by the road and chucked his rucksack in the back. He pulled out his wand and prodded under the steering wheel.

"What are you doing?" Lily asked.

"Hotwiring this thing."

"Why not use the key?" Lily said, turning it for him and hearing the engine turn over. James looked at her sheepishly before gunning the engine and getting them the hell out of there.

They reached the devil's pitchfork in half an hour and then turned east until they came to a roadside shrine. A few turns later, they hit a dead end.

"I don't get it," Lily said, frustrated, as she angrily got out of the car.

"Landmarks change, get washed away. There's nothing you can do about it," James said, getting out too.

"There's got to be another clue."

"Lily, we still have the map; don't worry too much."

"Do you hear that?" Lily asked, meaning the faint roaring that came from somewhere in front of them.

"It sounds like a waterfall."

"Exactly! Check this out," Lily said eagerly, folding the map so that the drawing formed a waterfall in the center enclosed within a heart made of the roads.

"You are amazing Lily Evans, amazing!" James said. She wasn't really, she just happened to be a visual person and noticed little tricks like that. In fact, she had spent a good portion of 5th year making her own versions of this sort of thing during History of Magic.

They both piled back into the car and a few minutes later arrived in front of the waterfall. Lily followed James into the cave near the base of the waterfall, which had been marked with an 'X' on the map.

"Lumos," he said, lighting the cave and the map. "So this says we're looking for 'mothers milk.'"

"What's that mean?"

James shrugged and they continued walking until they came to small cavern with a pool, with water white as milk, in the middle. "Mummy, I'm home," James smirked. Lily laughed and she and James set to scooping the silt out of the pool.

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Lily laughed.

"What?" James asked.

"Digging for treasure … with you."

James paused and looked oddly at ease after hearing such a mushy sentiment, so Lily plowed onwards.

"You're the best time I've ever had," she said, honesty filling her eyes.

James reached a muddy hand out and stopped right before touching her face and said, "I've never been anyone's best time before." Lily concluded that this was a moment she wanted to remember forever and tried to burn it into her mind, from the muddy water around her hands, to James' soul filled eyes that had her drowning, to his gentle smile, and contented words.

Then her fingers brushed something hard. Her eyes widened.

"I think I found something," she whispered in excitement, ruining the moment in favor of a new one. James' hands joined hers under the water and with a squelch he pulled out a statue.

"Is it a million dollar statue?" Lily asked skeptically as James turned it over and revealed a run of the mill garden gnome.

"Someone has a real sick sense of humor," James said, clearly disgusted.

"Wait, what if the treasure's inside the statue? In my first book, Treasures of Lust, I hid the treasure inside a statue." James eyed her for a moment (probably about the title of her book), then eyed the statue, and then smashed it none too carefully into the floor.

The front part shattered, revealing a blood red stone.

Lily froze, thinking in absolute horror; this cannot be what I think it is. But is was. James pulled the stone out and flipped it in his hand, his eyes wide in recognition too.

This was a philosopher's stone, the only one in existence. Lily wondered hazily why Nicholas Flamel couldn't keep a better watch on such dangerous things before letting herself contemplate the sorts of damage this stone could do in the hands of You Know Who or the crazy police who were chasing her.

"Merlin, we're in a lot of trouble," James said, shaking his head.

"Understatement of the year, asshole," said a surly voice from behind them. Lily whipped around to see a short figure in Death Eater garb, pointing his wand at them. Lily raised her hands instinctively, feeling dread fill her.

"Is there anybody who isn't following you?" James asked wryly, before raising his hands as well.

"Hand over the stone, buddy," the Death Eater said, holding out a bag. James slipped the stone into it.

"Now get up and lead the way out of the cave," the Death Eater said, emphasizing his words with a menacing wave of his wand. Lily stumbled through after James, not at all enjoying having a killer behind her whose wand kept poking her.

Finally they were back out in the blistering sunlight and they made their way back over to the car.

"How did you find us?" James asked, conversationally.

"That car," the man said, gesturing at the white rust bucket Lily and James had stolen, "Is mine. I was sleeping in the back under the blanket when you drove off." Now Lily felt stupid and very creeped out. She was never going to get into a car again without checking the backseat, never.

"Get into the car, Ms. Evans, you'll be my chauffer. We'll see how Mr. Potter likes being abandoned." James was eyeing the Death Eater murderously and Lily got the feeling that it wasn't because he was worried about being abandoned since he was very adept at surviving on his own. James opened the driver's side door for Lily and she slid in.

"You're a real sick son of a bitch," James practically growled at the Death Eater.

"Is that so? Well, at least I'm an honest son of a bitch, eh? I'm stealing this stone, no confusion there; I'm not trying to romance it out from under her."

James looked on the verge of diving at the Death Eater and getting himself terribly injured so Lily broke in, "It was my idea to go after the stone, not James'."

"He made you think you needed it, silly twit. That's what all good con artists do," the Death Eater drawled at her in what was almost a pitying tone, clearly meant to emphasize her stupidity.

That's not true, Lily thought. It wasn't; it couldn't be. James had encouraged her to go after the stone once, but he'd never pressured her about it and she'd had other reasons besides bargaining for Marly's life to go after it. Very good reasons apparently because the philosopher's stone in the hands of You Know Who could do terrible things.

"Holy SHIT!" The Death Eater shouted, staring horrified over James' shoulder.

Lily whipped around in the driver's seat and saw at least seven police cars racing in their direction. Holy shit, indeed. Lily had barely turned back around in the driver's seat before James was sliding into the seat next to her.

"After the stone!" He yelled, pointing in the direction the Death Eater had run, "We have to get him before he apparates!"

"He would have already if he could," Lily shouted back. Her bet was that the police had anti-apparition wards up. James leaned out of the car door and when they were about even with the Death Eater, jumped straight out on top of him. Lily hadn't been expecting this, so she slammed on the breaks. James was already running back toward the car with the bag containing the stone in his hand when she managed to stop.

"Go, go!" He yelled, waving frantically. Lily gunned the engine and he dove through the open door as the car began to pick up speed.

"I have no idea where I'm going!" Lily screeched as she ran over a bush and wondered how far off death was at this rate, especially with the police gaining all the time.

"I'd try right!" James bellowed over the increasingly loud and unidentified roaring noise.

Lily was about to start veering right when in one heart-stopping moment the car launched into the air off of a slight embankment and landed in a disturbingly swollen river. As they impacted, Lily's head knocked viciously into the steering wheel, leaving a rather painful throbbing bruise that would undoubtedly develop into a full on headache given a few minutes. Currently Lily had other things to be worrying about, mainly the fact she was trying to steer a car through a river.

"Why are you still steering?" James asked, sounding much calmer than she felt, "We're not going anywhere the water doesn't want us to."

This didn't do much to calm Lily's nerves, so she switched on the windshield wipers, which were quite incompetent, and settled for trying to see what was coming up through all of the spray. What she saw was not comforting, but then again, when are waterfalls ever comforting when you're floating toward them?

She instinctively reached out and grabbed James' arm.

"Shit," he swore, "We're going to have to jump."

He wrapped his arms around her and as the car went over the falls, dragged her out of his door. They were going to die this time, Lily was quite sure. As they hit the water, Lily felt James dragged away from her. She tried to hold on, but the force of the currents and plunging water dragged her away. The water was pressing down on her from all sides and she desperately needed air. She couldn't even keep track of which way was up in this murky water. Suddenly a swell hit her and forced her in a direction that she later figured out was up.

As she tried to keep from running into a rock, her head broke the surface and she took a shuddering breath of air. She was near to a bank, Lily recognized with joy and, uncaring of which bank it was, she struggled toward it, fumbling her wand out of her purse as the water threatened to pull her in again and casting a propelling charm on herself. As she dragged herself onto a vaguely flat rock at the river's edge, feeling immensely glad she was still alive, she realized she didn't know where James was.

She immediately began searching the water for a sign of him, ready to throw a floating charm at him if she needed to. Then she spotted him … on the other bank.

He was on the other side! The thought seemed strange and foreign to her and she began to wonder if the Death Eater hadn't been right.

"James Potter!" She yelled, attracting his attention from where he was emptying his stomach of water, "You did this on purpose!" She was amazingly upset for someone who usually just went the passive aggressive route.

James looked confused, even from a distance, so she decided to explain further. "You're on the other side of the river … with the STONE!"

"What the hell are you talking about? We just went over a bloody waterfall!" He yelled back, gesturing comically at the waterfall, like she'd forgotten about it or something.

"What about my friend!" Lily screeched, feeling torn between killing James and crying.

"You've got the map!" James yelled, "Just don't tell them about the stone!"

He was leaving her now that he had the stone. Lily couldn't believe it. She'd trusted him. She'd trusted that sorry, worthless pile of flesh.

"You're a pathetic excuse of a wizard, Potter! I can't believe I even thought you'd stick around after we found el Corazon!"

James looked offended and yelled back. "What hotel will you be at in Cartagena?"

"Hotel Cartagena!" Lily shouted, going for sarcasm since he was an idiot and didn't really care.

"Just go straight towards the sunset and you should get to Cartagena just fine! And I'll be there waiting for you!"

"Likely story, Potter!" Lily shouted back. She would have continued except the rock next to hers choose that moment to explode, probably because it'd just been hit by a curse thrown by the police, who were now standing at the top of the waterfall on James' side of the river.

"I'll see you there, Lily!" James shouted as he dashed into the brush trying to get out of the way of the curses.

Lily watched him go in spite of the curses, knowing that it would probably be the last time she'd see him.

ooo…ooo

Lily stumbled into Cartagena tired, dirty, footsore, emotionally drawn, and, in general, ready to collapse. She made it to the Hotel Cartagena, got herself a room, somehow staggered up to it, and crashed on the bed.

She let herself lie there for nearly 15 minutes, before she levered herself out of bed and shakily reached for the telephone. She dialed the number Marlene had given her and waited with bated breath for her call to be answered.

"Hello?" The same deep voice from before answered.

"It's Lily Evans, I just wanted to let you know I've made it to the Hotel Cartagena."

"Very good, Ms. Evans. Now for the next step. You will leave your hotel at nightfall and go to the docks directly next to it. From there you will take a water taxi to the fort across the bay. Be sure to bring the map, Ms. Evans. We wouldn't want anymore mix-ups."

"I'll be there," Lily said, "Can I speak to Marlene, now?"

"Not until I have the map, Ms. Evans." The dial tone sounded, and Lily slowly lowered the phone back into its cradle.

She fruitlessly wished James were here so she wouldn't have to go face these people alone. She assumed that the people holding Marlene hostage were Death Eaters and that the man who'd accosted them in the cave had been working with them, although she wasn't sure. She didn't want to contemplate what she'd do if it was another party altogether that was after the stone.

She was still confused about the police, though. The police, and that man who'd told her to get on the wrong bus, were an enigma. It was obvious why they'd want the stone, immortal life and gold and whatnot, but how had they found out about it? As a matter of fact, how had the stone ended up in Colombia anyway? And after that, how had Eduardo McKinnon, a rather unobtrusive businessman and part-time political worker, ended up with it? Or perhaps he'd only been given the map to it? But then who had made the map? And why had Eduardo chosen to send it to her? Lily didn't fancy herself as anyone's first choice of philosopher stone rescuer. Lily wondered if she'd ever find the answers to these questions.

Unable to keep herself occupied anymore, she snatched up the phone and dialed the front desk. "Excuse me, has James T. Potter checked in."

She was answered with a pause and then a quick, "No, seniorita."

"Thank you," Lily whispered before setting the phone back again.

Well, she wouldn't let it get her down. He was a jerk. After she got Marlene back to England, they could buy some chocolate and sit around bashing him. That would make her feel better.

Lily splashed some water on her face and then headed downstairs into the twilight.

She stepped off of the water taxi onto the cobblestone landing of the fort and felt extremely uneasy. This was a very disturbing place to come for such a transaction, with its thick walls and flickering gas lamplight. Lily ducked through the entrance to the tunnels that comprised the fort and shivered at the sudden drop in temperature compared to the steamy tropical air outside.

She'd walked down a few halls when a voice said, "Stop, Ms. Evans."

She stopped. She didn't have a death wish, after all.

"Do you have the map?"

It was very odd to hear a disembodied voice like that, Lily decided.

"Yes," Lily said, as she pulled it out of her trusty purse. It was admittedly a tad damper than at the beginning, but it was still legible. She wouldn't have been surprised if someone, perhaps Eduardo, had put an impermeable charm on the ink.

"Good."

"Let me see Marlene," Lily responded.

Marlene appeared from around a corner, being held up by an arm clothed in black. A Death Eater stepped out from behind Marlene as the Death Eater holding her also fully appeared to go with his arm. They walked toward Lily, bringing Marlene with them.

"Let me see it," the first Death Eater said, holding out his hand. Lily was wary to let the map go, but did.

"If this isn't authentic …" the Death Eater said, performing a verifying charm on the map. The map glowed briefly blue, indicating it was authentic.

"Well, well. Very good. You're free to go Ms. Evans and take your friend with you."

The Death Eater, who had been stoically holding Marlene, shoved her forward, sending her stumbling into Lily. Lily grabbed Marlene and turned down the corridor to beat a hasty retreat, in case other uncomfortable questions came up.

Lily had gotten maybe three steps before the ground in front of her split from the impact of a curse.

ooo…ooo

Thank you for reading. I hope this chapter lives up to expectations. There's only one more chapter left to this little fic, so review while you can (unless you're feeling as lazy as I am, and then don't because I understand completely).