Some Kind of Trouble
DaggersBloodPain
A/N: Sorry for the long wait, I hope you like the update. I am introducing the war into the story in this chapter. This is where I start the process of taking my characters and turning them into the more 'canon' versions, or as canon as fanfiction gets. I am going to be putting my characters into their own personal Hells and see what comes of it.
Chapter Seven
Die Another Day
(Madonna)
Dark Mark and Tragedy in London!
Death Eater's spotted in Liverpool!
Diagon Alley, Is It Safe?
Where is Your Gold Really Going?
Do You Know Where Your Children Are At?
Half-Blood Family Slain, No Survivors!
Each week a new headline came through, either telling about another gruesome death, or giving advice on how to prevent attacks. The students within Hogwarts were nervous about the growing terror they could feel coming from the adults around them. Whispers of allegiances, fears, and blood lines were passed around faster than you could think. One minute you were friends, the next enemies, and everyone dreaded the day they would be called to the Headmaster's office to be informed of a death or arrest in the family.
The Professors worked carefully with the students. They were slowly forming evacuation and defense plans, but were forced to set the pace to such a slow crawl they didn't alarm the already uptight students. Accidental magic breakouts were happening more often in the younger years due to the stress and the older students were questioning their beliefs and that of their families, worrying about the day they would be forced to make a choice on which side to fight. There was a war coming, and everyone felt its effects, the young and old alike.
The time had been very hard on Lily. She had come to care for and respect her Slytherin friends as much, or more, than her Gryffindor ones, but the tension in the school was on the verge of ripping them apart. She was a muggleborn in the middle of a war that killed her kind. Most of her friends were at least half-bloods, but most were purebloods, and she didn't know where to turn for support or advice. It was like her world was crashing down around her, and she had no safe place to land.
She hid in the library for the majority of time she wasn't in class. Other than the Great Hall it was the closest thing to neutral territory in the castle. She could at least pretend that everything was going to be alright if she was surrounded by the smell of old ink and parchment. Severus stayed by her side as much as he could, but being a half-blood Slytherin, he was under more pressure than Lily was and she didn't want him coming to harm for her sake. It made Bellatrix happy that Lily kept her distance from Severus, but even the hotheaded witch wasn't acting like her normal self. The Black family was busy grooming its younger members into the perfect Dark scions. Bellatrix knew, more now than ever, that she and Severus were never going to have a normal relationship, but that didn't stop her from hoping.
With all her hiding and worrying, the person that finally broke through to Lily was one she was least expecting. She had been sitting in the back of the library, minding her own business, just staring at a book not absorbing anything written on the page. The stress must have really gotten to her if she didn't even have enough gumption to read anymore. Her silence was broken by a calm, cultured voice, "What are you running from?"
Lily looked up to Narcissa, she had come in alone, and didn't appear to have any books with her, almost like she had come just to talk to Lily. "What do you mean? I'm not running from anything."
"You don't really think I would believe that do you?" Narcissa asked, calmly seating herself next to the red-haired witch. "I have been watching you pull away from all the others around you. We are all having our own troubles, but I want to know what YOU are running from. You were never one to run away from something horrifying, or you wouldn't have stood by our Severus for so long."
It was than that Lily noticed the tenseness in her pose, the tiredness and frailty of Narcissa, she was always so calm and collected people rarely ever saw just how much stress she was enduring or how badly it was affecting the delicate girl. In that moment Lily saw the truth behind the frosted glass, and realized there was worse fates than her own. She felt she owed Narcissa the real answer, the one the Slytherin had come to hear. "I was running from the truth, I didn't want to hear that the people I love are now my enemies. Blood lines seem to be the only thing people talk about anymore, and mine are garbage in many minds. I was afraid to hear just how deeply that ran in the people I had around me."
Narcissa smiled softly, glad to hear the honesty coming from Lily. "I thought as much. Lily I won't lie to you, the days and weeks ahead will be difficult, there are things stirring in the older families that haven't been spoken of in years. My parents are being stricter with us every day, and my sister's recent marriage to a muggleborn is only adding fuel to the flames. Bellatrix and myself are holding our breaths, waiting for them to revoke the marriage rules already set and have us married off before graduation." It seemed like as soon as Narcissa started talking, she couldn't stop. It was like the words pained her to say, but it hurt more to keep them in. "We are running out of time. Lily, those of us that have been around you all this year are not going to abandon you by choice, but this war is going to force us to chose. You are worried that as a muggleborn you will be hurt or killed for your blood, but it is just as dangerous for a pureblood who doesn't want to fight."
Lily listened to Narcissa in horror. In all her panic and worry about her own blood status, she hadn't stopped to think about the position her pureblooded friends were in. They may not want to harm her, but family loyalties might force their hands. "Dear Merlin, I didn't stop and think. I'm so sorry." She admitted before continuing. "I'm sorry for running away when it sounds like you, and the others, need all the support you can get."
"I understand why you did it, I just wasn't sure if you realized it yourself if that makes sense." Her tiredness caused Narcissa to slouch somewhat in her chair, making her look even more vulnerable then normal.
"I guess it does. I didn't do a very good job of thinking things through, I just started drifting and it left me blind." Lily replied, trying not to bring attention to how worried she was about the other girl, now that her eyes had been opened to the pain. "What can I do to help you?" She found herself asking, without realizing she was going to until it was already said.
"I don't even know to tell the truth Lily. Things are getting dangerous for us, and I mean all of us, on either side. Those of us that don't want to fight need somewhere safe to catch our breath and regroup. There is just so much going on that its hard to take all at once. Even here I feel exposed and cautious, I'm never able to relax and unwind the way I want to." Narcissa responded with startling candor.
Lily couldn't stop herself, one minute she was sitting quietly listening, the next she was hugging Narcissa and she couldn't remember how she got to that point. Something had snapped and she couldn't not comfort the other girl. "Narcissa we will find you the safe place you need, you and the others, we will face this, and find a way to beat it."
Narcissa didn't protest, or pull away. Lily thought she might cry, or scream, or do something, but no all she did was hold on for dear life. She held Lily so tightly it was like the Gryffindor had become her rock in the ocean.
'Harry couldn't believe what he had just read. He sat in shock at the pain and confusion he felt in his heart at reading his mother's words. Words he noticed were oddly smudged, like tears had fallen while the ink was fresh, and many more tears beyond that. His heart broke for the two woman, and he felt a driving force to keep reading, to know one way or another just how things worked out for thee people he had heard stories about his whole life, but no one had seemed to know them the way Lily told it. With haunting clarity.'
