Duels, Detention and Blackmail
Voldrada Riddle was probably having the worst day of her life. Not only did she hear Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy plotting a midnight duel, but an owl arrived with a blackmail letter. (Here's a copy of it.)
Dear "Lily",
I know both your real name (Voldrada) and your father (The Dark Lord). I need to make sure that you stop protecting Harry Potter, so if you do, all of you "little secrets" won't be be so secret anymore. I'm watching you, so I'll know if keep at it or tell anybody about this letter. You'd better be careful. The Dark Lord is not happy with everything you're doing. Just because you have the ability to call him "daddy" doesn't give you any more protection or affection than any of us valued Death Eaters. If you really want to play it safe, you'll drop out of Hogwarts and join your dad in his hunt.
Obviously, their wasn't a signature. Her first instinct was to talk to Dumbledore about the mysterious Death Eater, but then she remembered what they had said about not telling anybody about it; she couldn't take any more risks concerning her true identity. But first things first, she had to find a way to stop that duel. But how to do it. . .
. . .
It was eleven fifty p.m. Lily hoped that through the darkness and her terribly cast dissalusiment charm, Harry wouldn't see her. As she held her breath, she saw that Harry was just about as nervous as she was. He climbed through the portrait hole with Ron and Hermione, who was protesting very loudly, and had no idea about their stalker. Neville was there and insisted he come along. Just one more back to save. . .
They were at the place where the duel was to take place when they heard it.
"Sniff around, my sweet. They'll be in here somewhere," Filch was whispering to
As they all dashed out, Lily tried to remember how to de-cast a dissalusiment charm. After a dangerous encounter with Peeves the poltergeist, she remembered how. She waited for Peeves to glide away, then tapped her wand on her head.
"Filch! Just the man I wanted to see!"
"What?!?" he spat.
"I was just wondering how to find Griffindore again. I fell asleep in the common room and woke up here."
"Oh, yeah? That would be a much more convincing story if I hadn't been warned about some students planing to duel around here. You come with me, you little brat." sneered Filch, grabbing her arm and pulling her allong the corridors. They stopped at Professor McGonagal's office.
"What is it this time Filch" she called after he knocked.
"I caught one of the duelers that Malfoy boy talked about!"
"I wasn't going to do the dueling!" she protested, then realized what a huge mistake it was.
"So you admit there was going to be a duel!" Filch exclaimed.
"I never said those exact words," Lily replied calmly.
McGonagal opened the door and said, "Oh, just get in here already! You'll awake have the castle!"
After they had sat down, Filch cried out, "But she even admitted it! You heard her!"
"Listen! I'd like to hear the story from BOTH sides!"
"But-"
"BOTH sides, Mr. Filch! If it concerns you so much, you can go first."
"Delighted," he said, smirking. "It seems as though Lily here was going to watch the duel, as if it were a quittich match. I luckily arrived soon enough to catch her before it started; the duelers certainly don't need any encouragement. I had trouble finally getting her over here, with all the thrashing and kicking, but I finally managed."
"Well," she began. "That's partly true. Sort of. You see, I came out to stop them, but the portrait hole was empty-no Fat Lady! So we thought it would be best to just go on with the plan. Then we all narrowly escaped Filch, then Peeves, then I stayed behind to distract Filch when he came around a second time, and he dragged me here by the arm."
"Alright," said professor McGonagal, her face expressionless. "I'd like to speek to Miss Johnson alone, Mr. Filch."
"But of course!" said Filch, a wicked grin spreading across his face. After he left, McGonagal pointed to a chair.
"Sit," she said, and did the same. "So, would you like to tell me which students you followed?"
"Just a few other first years."
"Which other first years?"
Lily had no choice. She sighed and told McGonagal the whole story, making sure Hermione looked good. They had just became friends, and one little detention could change that. All the while, Professor McGonagal listened with silence.
"Well," she said when Lily had finished. "I'll expect to see you in detention Thursday evening as soon as you finish dinner. You may leave."
Not keen on any more punishment, Lily rushed out and headed back to her dormetory before McGonagal could add anything on to detention, glaring at Filch on the way.
"Where have you been?" asked Hermione, who had been waiting, worried, by her bed.
"Filch," said Lily bitterly.
"Why Filch?"
"Distracting him from you, Neville, Ron and Harry."
"Oh," said Hermione, blushing. "Thanks. I-er-I mean, the Fat Lady was gone, and-"
"I know. I didn't want all of us to get detention, so I decided to do it. Besides, I wound up telling McGonagal the whole story."
"Oh, well, we should probably get to bed. See you in the morning!"
She was so relieved that Hermione forgave her for ratting her out, she didn't notice the face peering out at her from right outside the window. Nor did she know that the man behind the glass was blackmailing her.
. . .
"Good evening Miss Johnson," said Professor McGonagal. "I see that you're on time for detention. Very good. Tonight you will be helping Professor Quirrel with some creatures he will be teaching some of the older about students tomorrow. He's in the Defence Against the Dark Arts class room."
"Oh, h-hello Lily," said Professor Quirell. "Professor McG-Gonagal told me th-that you would b-be coming."
They spent the rest of the evening cleaning the tanks of some of the wierdest things Lily had ever seen. She held them,(most were slimy and had teath) well Quirerrel cleaned the tanks or cages. Three hours and too many bites to count later, they were finally done. Lily dashed up to the Griffindore common room to work on her homework. Hermione and Ron Weasly were arguing about schoolwork or something.
"If you paid attention in class, you wouldn't need to borrow other people's notes!" Hermione was yelling at Ron.
"I told you, I just lost them!" Ron protested.
"No, I saw that you were just writing notes about how to best win Wizard Chess!"
"You cheating little prat-"
"Petrificus Totalus!" Hermione cried, then stormed up to her dormetory.
"Alright, get on with your homework and stuff!" said Percy Weasly after using the counter curse on his younger brother, who had been stiff as a board until that moment. Lily finished most of her homework, then ran up to talk to Hermione but she was already asleep.