Sorry about the last chapter. I was overly tired and in a very weird mood. Hope this one helps explain things. I like some of the ideas people are coming up with. I really like the squid. It made me laugh because I can see it. Hope you like this one.
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Scorpius stared at Lily. She was smiling at him. He stood, dumbfounded. Here he had spent all this time and energy trying to find her and she was here the entire time. He felt sudden anger. It was not like Lily to run off without telling him. They almost always walked up to the castle together. And here she was smiling, as if nothing had happened. His voice was low and it came out as almost a growl.
"Where in the name of Merlin's beard have you been?"
Lily looked startled at his outburst. The smile faded slightly. "What do you mean?"
That only angered his more. "I mean I have been looking for you for almost an hour. I was worried about you and here you are, strolling in like nothings wrong. That isn't like you."
He watched as she rolled her eyes. "Sorry. You were sleeping, so I thought I would run up here and grab something else to eat. I was hungry. I was on my way back."
The answer made sense, but it was wrong. Lily wouldn't do that. She wouldn't leave without leaving a note. Besides which, she didn't usually eat a ton for breakfast. She usually ate a little but never really seemed hungry until lunch time. He stared at her before grabbing her arm.
"C'mon." He growled. She tried to yank her arm out from his hands, but he held on strong. He could see the irritation play across her face.
"Where do you think you are taking me Malfoy?" Scorpius just pulled harder.
"To the hospital wing. You are obviously not feeling well and I want Madam Pomfrey to check you out. And when did you start calling me Malfoy?"
Lily finally succeeded in pulling her arm away. She stopped, with her hands on her hips. "Since you started being an ass. And I am fine. I don't need to go to the hospital wing."
The two friends stood and glared at each other in silence. Finally, Scorpius shook his head in resignation. "Look, Lils, I'm sorry. I just woke up and you weren't there. You are always there, and you had me worried. You know we don't like you wandering the school by yourself. I know you can handle yourself, but you had me worried, OK?"
He saw few emotions on her face. In fact, it was almost like staring at a mask. That was very odd for Lily. She seemed to be debating his apology and how sincere he was being. He frowned at her. Something was up. Before he could figure it out, Lily smiled and grabbed his hand.
"You don't need to worry about me. Everything's going to be great fro now on. Let's go get some dinner." Scorpius followed her to the Great Hall.
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Over the next few days, things just got stranger. Scorpius was not the only one to notice. Lily would disappear for hours on end. She had stopped going to her classes, and the professors were beginning to worry too. It was just not like Lily. She was complaining of sickness, but Madam Pomfrey had yet to see her.
She was blowing off her brothers, Marcus, and the twins. She was skipping their mornings at the tree and she had yet to ask for her sketchpad back. Scorpius had accidentally thrown it in his bag when he had packed up her things days ago. She was not as talkative at usual and she sulked more often.
She was not his Lily and he couldn't figure out what was wrong. She still disappeared in the mornings and he didn't know where she kept running off to. It was starting to worry him. He had tried to talk to her about it, but she just told him she wasn't feeling well and she would change the subject. He seemed to be the only one she wasn't blowing off, but she still was very short with him. Often times, she would just stare at him but she wouldn't talk.
What had caused such a change? He had taken to trying to find out where she went in the mornings without him. So far, he had yet to see her emerge from the Gryfindor tower. She didn't seem to really be there, but right after he gave up and went to the Great Hall for breakfast, she would be sitting there waiting for him. He just couldn't figure out what was wrong. It was like her entire personality was wrong. It just wasn't Lily.
He knew that his idea was out there, but it was stuck in his mind. This was not his Lily, so that meant that something terrible had happened. Either His Lily was trapped in this new Lily, or this was not His Lily at all. He had not mentioned his fears to any of the others. He wanted a little more proof. It was an out there idea to begin with, he needed to have some more proof that he was right.
The problem was that this Lily seemed to know he was watching her. She was still talking to him, but it was brief and always seemed to be in a group. She was making sure she was not next to him alone. She would talk to him and listen to his opinions and watch him, but she made sure she did not find herself alone with him.
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After a horrible week, Scorpius finally decided that he needed to talk to the others about Lily and her behavior. He found Al sitting in the library, a very worried look on his face. Scorpius walked to the table he was at and sat down. Albus slammed his book shut and glanced up to see Scorpius.
"Damn, Malfoy. Don't do that. You startled me." Al whispered harshly at Scorpius.
"Sorry." He wasn't, not when it came to Lily. "We need to talk."
Al sighed. Scorpius had expected him to demand what this little conversation would be about. After all, last time they started a conversation in the library like this, Al had been holding Scorpius hostage at wand tip.
Albus looked up with wide green eyes. "You are noticing it too aren't you?"
Scorpius covered his surprise. Honestly, did he really think he was the only one who knew anything about Lily and her behavior? He had been so stuck on His Lily that he forgot that the others would surely notice something wrong and they would have ideas about it too.
"Yeah." Scorpius ran a hand through his hair. "I just don't know what's up. She hasn't been meeting me for morning meetings, I only see her for pieces of time, and she is always surrounding herself with people. It is like a different Lily." Scorpius looked up to meet Albus' eyes. "I'm really worried Al."
The two had been, well not exactly friends, but they had a growing bond. This was the first time Scorpius had used Albus' first name. It spoke to the seriousness of the situation.
"Me too. That's why I'm here. I am looking into potions, spells, and anything I can find that would change personality like that. But it doesn't look good." Scorpius nodded, and without another word, he grabbed a book and began to read.
Another two days passed and they had found nothing. Albus was even more worried than ever. The two had gone so far as to send a letter to Harry. They hadn't wanted to worry the auror, but they needed help. Lily was getting worse, and they didn't know how to help her. They also knew that with the way her schooling was going, Harry would be contacted soon anyway. She was continuing to miss classes and she was becoming more and more distant.
He wanted answers. What had happened to his friend? An idea had formed in the back of his mind, but he was hoping against hope that the idea proved false. The only way he would know was if he could pin her down for more than an hour, and right now that was almost impossible.
Scorpius was getting frustrated. Then, just after dinner, he saw her in the halls. He quickly walked over, but Lily looked up and saw him. Their eyes met for an instant. Scorpius' eyes widened in shock. He was no longer staring into Lily's warm copper eyes, but instead, he was staring into eyes that were vaguely familiar. Lily took off running towards the doors. Scorpius was hot on her heels.
They raced through the empty halls toward the entrance of the castle. Lily was fast, but Scorpius' long legs were quickly closing the distance. "Stop! Lily!"
The calls were ignored. By now they were outside. The sun was setting over the lake. He tried to keep his eyes on Lily, but he soon lost sight of her as the sun blinded him. He had to stop and shield his eyes. Once he could again see, he started to look for a figure around the lake. He had been blinded for just a few seconds, but it seemed that she was gone.
He began to search the area, looking for any signs someone had run that way. His heart pounded. He had been so close. On top of that, his fear had been realized. He began to race back to the castle. He needed all the help he could get right now. Harry Potter would definitely be called in for this. It seemed that Lily was in serious trouble. Someone had polyjuice potion, and they probably also had Lily.
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Lily was still stuck in the dark cave. She had lost track of time. All she knew was that her captor would show up soon. She didn't know how she was going to get out of this. She knew it had been a few days at least. She also knew that her captor was getting more agitated and that did not bode well for Lily.
Her captor had untied her just long enough for her to remove the wand strapped to her leg. Lily had not been given a chance to use the wand. If she even tried to flick the wand, she was hit with the cruciatus curse. By the time she had unstrapped the wand and tossed it aside as told to, she had been sweating and in extreme pain. Every time her captor thought she had put a toe out of line, a new curse would hit her.
When they were here with Lily, she was untied, but that was so she could use the chamber pot and eat quickly. Lily would be questioned about her friends and what they talked about and what would be expected that day. If it was found out that Lily had given false information, she was given no food and a good dose of Crucio.
It didn't stop Lily from trying to escape. Lily had even tried to make a mad dive for the pool of water. It seemed that was the only way to get in and out of the cave. There were no other doors she could see and that was how her captor always entered and exited. The first time she had been untied after giving away her wand, she dove into the pool hoping to escape, but the water was deep, and soon she couldn't breathe.
She had been sure she was going to drown; she could feel her lungs closing and her brain shutting down. The world had dimmed when she felt someone yank back on her clothing. They dragged her back into the cave and Lily had sat gagging on the floor. She coughed up water and slowly she could see again. A cold voice had whispered,
"You idiot. Do you honestly think I wouldn't have thought about that? That tunnel is so long, you need a bubblehead charm to get here. Even if they figure it out, they won't be able to find you." Even that had not deterred Lily.
When she was left alone, she was again bound hand and foot. It was done so tightly that she could not move an inch. She tried to use the stone walls to saw through the rope, but all that did was cut her arms and cause her wrists to swell. The rope held strong.
She tried looking for another passage, maybe one her captor did not know about, but it was soon evident that there was no other way out of here. She had tried to open her mole skin pouch, but so far she had had little success. She was hoping that it would help Scorpius find her. She had almost edged it open when there came a splash. Damn! They're back!
The figure preformed a quick drying spell and they walked over to Lily. The polyjuice potion had almost worn off by now. The long red lock were shortened to their natural length. The eyes were already back. The figure grew to their own height and they straightened.
"Damn him! Damn you!" They were really angry. Lily could see it and she knew she would be in trouble very soon if she didn't play her cards right. The dark eyes focused on her.
"He knew, how did he know? He has been watching me for days, but he knew it was polyjuice potion, I could see it in his eyes. He knows I am not you." The figure ran distracted hands through their hair.
"Lord, if I spent even a few seconds alone with him, he was constantly demanding that I answer questions and they were questions I didn't have. Shit!"
The figure paced back and forth, becoming more and more agitated. Lily tried desperately to open her mole skin pouch again. This time, her life depended on it. She had to get out of this. A strange look had entered their eyes and their wand was moving rapidly back and forth.
They turned and focused dark wild eyes on Lily. "There is only one thing left to do." A wand was raised, and Lily stared in horror.
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Scorpius had quickly found Albus and a few of the others. Within minutes, Harry had been summoned and they met up together. Scorpius and Al had gone over their ideas. Scorpius shared his run in with the Fake Lily. Harry had listened with a frown on his face.
Soon, they had a search party all around the lake. They covered every nook and cranny, but there was no sign of Lily or the person that could have taken her. Scorpius was becoming frantic. How had they missed this? It had been almost a week that Lily had been gone, and none of them had known it.
Albus had tried to alleviate his guilt. "We did know."
"Yeah, but it took us this long to do anything about it. We knew something was off, but we didn't do anything at first and now she can be in really big trouble."
Al seemed to know there was no convincing Scorpius otherwise. They continued to search in vain. They didn't know where to start. Harry had called James and the two had poured over a map, but they had no idea about where Lily was.
The sun was now gone, and the searchers went back to the castle, trying to think of a new plan of action. Scorpius overheard Harry talking to Ron. "What did I do wrong? Every time I turn around it seems like I am here waiting to find my daughter. What do I do if I don't find her this time?"
"Of course you'll find her mate. You came out of some pretty tight scrapes in your school days."
"That's what scares me."
"C'mon Harry. She has your blood. She will be fine. Just think, a few more years and you will be training her to be an auror just like you. We'll find her." Harry had shook his head sadly, but had followed Ron.
It was the first time Scorpius had seen Harry so defeated. He was always so strong and positive about his daughter. Now, he seemed so much older. Something was different about this time. They could feel it.
Scorpius had been unable to concentrate as he ate. Harry and told him he needed to eat if he wanted to help look for Lily. He couldn't afford to have searchers pass out from hunger later. They were all in the All House Common Room eating. Other students had been sent to bed. No one seemed to know what was going on except for the searchers. They thought it was best not to start rumors until after Lily was found.
Scorpius had nodded absentmindedly when Harry had handed him a plate. He was thinking back, trying to figure out who had Lily. It was there, teasing the back of his brain. He could almost picture a face. Scorpius closed his eyes and slowly calmed his mind. He thought of the eyes and focused on them until they were all he could see. Soon a nose appeared with the eyes followed by a mouth. Soon Scorpius had constructed the face. His eyes flew open. He ran to Harry and Albus, eating. His eyes were glowing in delight.
Harry looked up, "What is it Scorpius?"
"I know who it is!"
"Who what is?" Albus was tired and was having a hard time following Scorpius' excited voice.
"I know who has Lily!"