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Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. All (well, most, anyway) the characters are from J K Rowling's brilliant best-selling series.

Chapter Nine

"Watch closely, filthy Mudblood, for you're next!"

She came to, and realized that she was lying on her back in a dimly lit room. She tried to move, but she couldn't; she was completely immobilized. She immediately realized that she was under a Full Body-Bind Curse. She heard heavy breathing on either side of her, and surmised that Liz, Potter and Black were probably lying next to her as well. She felt her wand in the pocket of her robes, and wondered it hadn't been taken… Unless – they think we're no threat to them as long as we're immobilized, she thought.

She lay there, thinking desperately. She couldn't see any way out of their predicament. They were out of school, out of bounds, somewhere in Hogsmeade, where no one would come looking for them. It seemed like a really stupid idea now, wanting to investigate everything themselves… Why hadn't she listened to Liz when she'd suggested that they go back to the common room? Why had she looked around for a secret room, and when Potter and Black had arrived, why hadn't she stayed behind? Why hadn't she been rational?

I shouldn't have come, she thought miserably… I should've stayed behind… Stayed behind. All of a sudden, she felt relieved. Peter, she thought… Peter had stayed behind. He would find the Prewett twins, or a teacher, and come to rescue them. If only she knew where she was… Well, if she didn't know, how were the Prewett twins know? The hope that that help would come sooner or later slowly began to extinguish. They were on their own. She had no idea what Peter was up to, whether he'd found someone, whether anyone would believe him…

How long she lay there, she didn't know. The others made no sound from next to her, and the dim light was coming from the half-open door. She guessed that some kind of meeting was taking place in the adjacent room, and strained her ears to see if could catch anything of what was being said, but it was of no use. The voices were muffled.

Finally, after what felt like ages, she heard the sound of people getting up and the door of the house opening. She figured that the meeting was over, and that people were leaving the house. She waited for something to happen in a few moments; now that the meeting was over, and she wasn't disappointed: the leader (Bella, as Black had told them earlier) walked into the room. She wasn't alone, however; four other figures stood behind her, all flanking her like massive bodyguards. She saw that they were wearing skull masks over their faces. They don't want us to identify them, she thought.

"Well, well – here they are, the bunch of Nosey Parkers who followed Lucius from Hogwarts! Lucius was fool enough to let himself be seen… Luckily there are other ways to go back into the school, so we're fine for now, these kids can say all they want, no one will believe them!" said Bella in an amused tone, but Lily caught the harsh undercurrent in her voice, which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

"Well – release them, so that we can question them!" she said to one of her henchmen, who raised his wand and said, "Finite Incantatem!" The feeling was suddenly restored to her hands and feet, and she struggled to her feet slowly. To her right, she saw Liz doing the same; to her left, Potter and Black had jumped to their feet in a trice, and had wasted no time in drawing their wands. Bella laughed harshly.

"Put those away," she said to them coldly, "There's five wands trained at you, and we know magic that you children can only dream of learning, boys…" They ignored her, their wands steady. She quickly drew her own, too, and Liz did the same. Bella laughed harshly once again.

"A cocky lot, aren't you? But then, you're all Gryffindors, the House of the brave and the very stupidly reckless!" She turned to face Black. "I'm ashamed that we share the last name, Sirius… Ashamed to be associated with you! Why couldn't you do what Auntie Walburga asked and get Sorted into Slytherin?" she asked, shaking her head slightly, her tone still amused.

Black bristled with anger. "What, and be associated with you? No thanks, Cousin Bellatrix… I'd rather be a brave and reckless Gryffindor than an insane and evil Slytherin such as yourself!" Bellatrix frowned, but maintained her poise. She said, "Watch your language, dear cousin… Any more cheek from you, and I'll make sure that Auntie Walburga makes your life hell during the summer!"

"Oh, like it isn't going to be like that already, seeing that she's just as mad as you are!" yelled Black, but he didn't get very far. "Shut up!" said Bellatrix angrily, and with a flick of her wand she silenced him. Next to him, Potter spoke up. "Why did you attack us?" he asked her defiantly. It is rather brave of him to speak like that, she thought.

"Because, little Jamie, you were spying on us! And this is how we treat snoopers!" she said jeeringly, twirling her wand between her fingers. Even in the dim light, she saw Potter twitch angrily. "What are you going to do with us?" he asked her. She considered, while the other four masked figures just stood behind her, their wands raised.

"Well – considering that you're a pure-blood, Jamie-boy, I won't do anything to you. Or even little dumb Sirius here –" she indicated the still-silent boy, laughing, "—but these girls –" she turned to them, and Lily saw the suspicious look in her crafty eyes, "—who are they? Who are you, and what are you doing, tagging along with these clowns here?"

Lily remained silent. Bellatrix had just called James a pure-blood, and Travers had probably been in the meeting… It doesn't take a genius to figure out that she's a pure-blood maniac as well, she thought. She resolutely kept her mouth shut; saying her name out loud would most likely end up in another bullying session for her, and she didn't want to go through that again.

"Elizabeth Huntington," said Liz clearly from next to her, "And this is Lily – Lily Gilchrist." Lily nodded vigorously, and Bellatrix's eyes rested on hers for a split second. She smiled an evil smile before turning back to Liz. "Nice try, sweetheart," she said derisively, "But I know you're lying – your little pause before saying 'Gilchrist' gave you away… And besides, I have my own ways to detect when someone is lying to me, and that job is easy when that someone is a stupid little girl like yourself –" she turned to her, "And you, redhead, be a dear and tell me your real name, or we start using wands!" She raised her wand and pointed it to Lily, who shuddered slightly.

She knew that she would have to tell her real name to the woman in front of her, or she would be hit by a terrible curse of some kind. Cold with dread, she said, more bravely than she felt, "My name is Lily Evans."

Bellatrix looked at her disdainfully. "Ooh, a Mudblood! How – very – charming!" Lily shuddered once again at the anger in her voice. "Your kind have no place at Hogwarts, Lily Evans. You're not even fit to lick my shoes, so you should've stayed in the dirty, filthy Muggle world where you belong with your disgusting Muggle parents! That way you'd have been safe from my wrath!"

Beneath her dread and fear, she felt a new emotion: rage. Who was Bellatrix to decide if she was fit to be at Hogwarts? How could she say all this to her, insult her so much, and even her wonderful, loving parents? Tears threatened to come to her eyes, but she angrily suppressed them. She wasn't going to show weakness, or give any indication of how much Bellatrix's words had hurt her…

"Don't call her a Mudblood!" Potter shouted angrily, and she looked at him gratefully. Beside her, Liz said defiantly, "Lily is one of the most talented students at Hogwarts! She is top of our class in Potions and Charms, and she fully deserves to be here!" Black nodded vigorously in support, but Bellatrix just laughed. "Well, if scum like this tops the classes at Hogwarts, I'm seriously starting to doubt the teaching standards at Hogwarts. And you, cousin –" she looked at Black, "—you hanging around riff-raff like this is seriously going to upset Auntie Walburga!"

"I'm not riff-raff," she said suddenly. She was surprised at the fury in her own voice, but logic had taken a backseat, and her emotions were now driving her. "I'm not any different from you. I'm a witch too!" She shouted out the last sentence and beside her, Liz wrapped her hand in hers, and squeezed it tightly, saying resolutely, "Yes, she's a witch, and she has every right to be at Hogwarts!"

"Admirable sentiments," said Bellatrix mockingly, "Also, incorrect sentiments. Mudbloods at Hogwarts, what utter rubbish! Your kind should be sent to the bottom of the garbage pile, for that is where filth like you belongs! To have the nerve to think that you – a disgusting Mudblood, are any different from me – a Black, descended from a long line of pure-bloods!"

"There is no difference," said Lily truculently, her voice quavering slightly. She had never felt so angry; she was actually shaking with rage. "And if you think there is," she added, with a sudden inspiration, "You should speak to your sister Andromeda – a Black too, isn't she?" Bellatrix looked at her, frozen. "That's right," she went on recklessly, "Your own sister told me that there is no difference between pure-bloods and Muggle-borns, and that I shouldn't let anyone – anyone – tell me otherwise!" She screamed out the last words, and Bellatrix flinched backwards although she had brandished a whip at her. Lily felt surprised; the older witch seemed cowed and vulnerable at that moment.

Then, just as quickly as it had arrived, the doubt and uncertainty vanished from her face, which twisted into a cold mask. "Andromeda is a fool," she said viciously. "She doesn't know what's good for her – she'll come to her senses, I'll see to that – and as for you," she said ferociously, "You will pay for what you said. How about – a little dose of pain?" Laughing madly, she raised her wand, and Lily shuddered, suddenly frightened, all bravado gone. Have I just gotten Andromeda into trouble with her horrid older sister? And what is she going to do with me? Turn me into a toad, perhaps?

"NO!" yelled Potter, and quickly ran to where she was standing. He stood in front of her, with his back to her, and his arms spread out, and faced Bellatrix. "You won't hurt her. To get to her, you have to get through me first!" She stood there, astounded, as Liz and Black moved behind Potter and spread out their arms as well. "Us, too," said Liz calmly, and Black nodded vigorously, his eyes narrowed and his expression angry.

Lily stood there silently, overwhelmed. Black and Potter were not even friends with her. They were fully aware what she thought of them, and their treatment of Severus never failed to annoy her. More often than not, she was telling them off for their childish behaviour, and in turn, they always found some or other way to get under her skin. Potter in particular infuriated her the most, with his pranks and cocky attitude, and the fact that he seemed to ace most of his classes without really trying, while she had to work hard for every mark. Black was in the same mould as Potter, but he was more impulsive and indifferent to the consequences of his actions.

Tonight, however, she had seen an entirely different side of James Potter. He had been as irritating and arrogant as ever, but he had been extremely chivalrous, making sure that they all stuck together whilst they investigated, and he had even complimented her (rather grudgingly, but she didn't really care) when she'd thought of the most logical thing to do as they'd debated on where to start. And here he was, yet again, shielding her from the pure-blood maniac that was Bellatrix Black, standing up for what he believed in, standing up for her… No wonder Liz is friends with them, she thought… Maybe they're not so bad after all…

She quickly focused on the scene at hand, with her friends standing in front of her, and she couldn't let them do that… "You lot… You really don't have to do that… Don't let her hurt you for my sake," she said softly, but Potter and Black didn't even budge, and Liz turned to her and whispered, "Don't worry, Lil… This is what friends do… Remember, you're not alone!"

Bellatrix laughed, a high-pitched, out-of-control sound that worried her even more. "Look at all these little Gryffindors, standing up for the Mudblood… How pathetic! Well – you children are brave, I'll give you that… But bravery alone is not enough to stop me! You see – I, Bellatrix Black, can perform magic you can only dream of, so do yourselves a favour and get out of the way so that I can have some fun with the Mudblood!" She pointed her wand at Potter, but he didn't even move. "Bring it on, then," he said, his voice steady.

"No – Potter – get out of the way," said Lily weakly. How could she let him take a curse meant for her? "No, Evans," he said tersely, his eyes never leaving Bellatrix's face. Behind her, one of the four figures moved forward. "Come on, Bella – we haven't got all night. Just have your fun so that we can leave," he said, his voice low and harsh.

"Shut up, dolt," said Bellatrix rudely. "Don't you understand? We aren't supposed to hurt the pure-bloods, it's only the Mudbloods that get a taste of our very bitter medicine! And in case you haven't noticed, one of these kids is my cousin, and I don't want to hurt him, insufferable little twit though he may be! I'm in charge here – so you'll do well to keep your mouth shut!"

"Well – I don't care what you say, I'm going to curse the Mudblood if you're going to waste time chatting," said the other man arrogantly, and he moved forward. Bellatrix flicked her wand once, and in a trice, Lily felt her muscles go rigid; she had been placed under the Body-Bind curse again. However, Bellatrix must have performed another spell that kept them all standing upright, for neither of them fell backwards but remained still, like statues.

Bellatrix turned to face her offending henchman. "I said, stay," she said dangerously. He paused, uncertain, but it was a fleeting moment of indecision; he moved forward again. In a voice of forced calm, she addressed Lily, "Watch closely, filthy Mudblood, for you're next!" Pointing her wand to the man who was just raising his wand, she shouted, "Crucio!"

Lily watched in horror as the other man collapsed to his feet, yelling loudly. He was now rolling on the floor, twitching horribly; it seemed as if he was in great pain, and she couldn't figure out why for the life of her, until she realized that Bellatrix's curse must still be in effect. She looked on in terror as the man emitted scream after scream, until Bellatrix withdrew her wand from him. His body relaxed at once, and lay at her feet, shaking uncontrollably. She looked up at Lily, a cruel smile on her face.

"You're next, Mudblood," she said softly, and with another flick of her wand, she lifted the curse she had placed on the four Gryffindors. "Couldn't have you try to escape when I gave you a demonstration, could I?" she said over the wheezing of the man who still lay at her feet. "And what fun is Cruciating you when you're immobilized? No, this should be even more amusing!" She pointed her wand at Lily once again, and Lily closed her eyes tightly, bracing herself for the pain… Any second now, she was going to be rolling on the floor just like the man…

But the pain never came. Instead, a lot of things happened at the same moment.

The door behind them flew open, and she opened her eyes to see a number of people rush into the room. Their wand-tips were alight, and she recognized them all; Fabian and Gideon Prewett, who were in the lead, followed closely by the fifth-year prefects, Frank Longbottom and Alice Rutherford, and bringing up the rear was Diane Goodwin, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain, along with Head Girl Andromeda Black, whose expression was furious.

"Take cover," shouted Liz, and Lily obeyed immediately, and they all dived and lay against the floor. Lily felt giddy with relief; she hadn't been particularly keen to experience the pain curse from Bellatrix Black. The new arrivals immediately faced the villains who had attacked them, and she watched with wonder as Bellatrix was engaged in combat with the twins at the same time, and how she seemed to be able to match them both spell for spell, cackling loudly as they struggled against her. Behind them, she watched in horror as Alice fell after being hit by a spell, and Frank rushed to her side after Stunning the masked man he'd been duelling. Diane floored another of the goons, while Andromeda rushed to battle Alice's earlier opponent.

Next to her, Liz and Potter were holding down a struggling Sirius Black. "No, you idiot, we'll only get in the way! Stay down!" Liz yelled furiously over the din. Potter said, "Sirius, the twins are here, and so is Frank – they can handle it! And Dumbledore is probably on his way too!" Black stopped struggling at once, but his expression was defiant; it was clear that he wanted to join in, but the lack of ability to speak was making it inconvenient.

"STOP! Stop this now, Bella!"

They all quickly turned their attention to the battle, and Lily realized that it was Andromeda who had shouted. The bangs and lights ceased at once, and as the smoke cleared, Lily saw that the two Black sisters were standing in the middle of the room, their wands raised and pointed at each other, their faces holding identical expressions of rage. She watched as the Prewett twins struggled to their feet, and Alice seemed to have regained consciousness too; Frank was supporting her with one arm around her shoulder. Two of the masked figures were slowly getting up too, while the other two remained still on the floor.

"Andromeda… You dare to lift your own wand against me? Your own sister?" asked Bellatrix disbelievingly. Andromeda spoke, her voice shaking with suppressed rage, "I stand for what is right, Bella, and your ideology… It's flawed. There is no difference between pure-bloods and Muggle-borns, and blood purity is exactly as it always was – utter nonsense!" She spat out the final words, her eyes never leaving her older sister's face.

Everyone in the room was now watching the standoff between the two sisters, mesmerized. How like each other they look, thought Lily. She compared Andromeda's brown hair against Bellatrix's dark locks, and her grey eyes against her sister's brown ones. In spite of these obvious differences, however, the two resembled each other so much that had Andromeda been older, they would have even passed off as twins. It was hard to tell which face held more fury.

"Keep thinking like that, sweetheart, and you'll get blasted off the Black family tree!" spat Bellatrix. Andromeda grimaced. "If this is the ideology of the Black family, I'm better off without it," she said disdainfully. "You are a fool, Bella – mark my words, go along this path you've taken, and one day you'll regret it. And when that day comes, don't expect me to comfort you when you come crawling back to me." Lily shivered slightly; she had never heard Andromeda, or anyone for that matter, speak with so much contempt in their voice.

"Consider this a final warning, Andromeda," said Bellatrix spitefully, "If you don't come to your senses, you are no longer my sister." A pained expression came over Andromeda's face, and Lily felt a stab of sympathy towards her as she realized that she had something in common with the kind and beautiful head girl: they both had older sisters who hated them. A second later, Andromeda's face became smoothly clam again. "Well, that's a small price to pay for standing up for what I believe in," she said softly, her voice cold as ice.

Bellatrix's face contorted with fury, and she shouted, "Pulsum!" A loud BANG exploded from the end of her wand, and Andromeda fell back on the ground. Lily screamed, and Bellatrix laughed mirthlessly. "You've made the wrong choice, Andromeda," she said malevolently. Turning to her companions, she yelled, "Time to go, come on!"

Together, before anyone else could move even a muscle, they all shouted, "Atrufumus!" Black smoke billowed from their wands, and they couldn't see anything for a few seconds. Finally, someone shouted, "Deflus!" and a powerful blast of air drove the smoke away. Her vision cleared; she looked around and realized that Bellatrix and her goons had vanished, and the only ones in the room were Frank, who was still supporting Alice; Diane and Fabian, who were helping Gideon to his feet, and Andromeda, who was still on the floor. Lily rushed to the Head Girl at once.

"Andromeda," she gasped, "Are you OK?" Andromeda shrugged off the helping hand Lily had offered, and pulled herself upright. "I've been better," she said, wincing slightly, clutching her stomach. Lily broke into speech immediately. "I'm sorry I got you into trouble with your sister, Andromeda," she said in a small voice. "I told her that you had told me that there was no difference between pure-bloods and Muggle-borns, and she attacked you because of it."

Andromeda chuckled. "Don't worry about it. This has nothing to do with you, Lily. Bella and I – we've had conflicting viewpoints for a few years now, and things just came to head tonight, that was all. You don't need to fret, dear," she added kindly, patting Lily's shoulder. Lily nodded in relief. "Bellatrix used a Silencing Charm on Black – er, Sirius," she corrected herself quickly. Liz, Potter and Black had arrived to where she was, and stood there silently. Andromeda sighed and pointed her wand at Black; a second later, he regained his speech.

"Stupid – bloody – knobhead!" he swore immediately, and Andromeda said, "Language, cousin. Perhaps it was better that you were struck dumb." Liz and Potter laughed, and an unwilling smile spread over Lily's face as well. Andromeda's smile faded, and she asked them, more seriously, "What were you doing so far from the school?"

Lily was dreading this moment most of all. Once everyone was all right, she knew that she'd be asked this question. She took a deep breath, but before she could begin to talk, Liz cut across her. "Can we all go to Professor Dumbledore, Andromeda? We have some information, and it'll be better if we explain it all to him."

Andromeda paused, considering; she looked around at Diane, who nodded slightly in agreement. Andromeda turned back to them and said, "Fine, we can all go to Professor Dumbledore. I only hope he won't punish you lot for going out of bounds like that." Lily closed her eyes again, imagining detention. Why, oh why, had she let her curiosity get the better of her? Why hadn't she done the smart thing and let the teachers handle things?

Liz smiled. "Good," she said, "And thank you for rescuing us, Andromeda. All of you. Who knows what would've happened if you hadn't arrived when you did!" Potter said gratefully, "Yeah, thanks! Did Peter tell you to come to us?" Fabian nodded in assent, still supporting Gideon, who seemed to be bleeding from his nose. "Come here – Let me take care of that," said Diane, and pointing her wand at Gideon's nose, she said softly, "Episkey!" The blood ceased to flow from his nose at once, and colour returned to his face. He nodded his thanks to his Quidditch captain, who grinned.

"Thank you, Cousin Andromeda," said Black, and she ruffled his hair affectionately. "Don't mention it, Sirius, we're family, aren't we? You don't have to thank me." Lily looked up at her and said, "But we all do. If you hadn't come, we would've probably been turned to toads or bats by her – Bellatrix," she said feelingly, and turning to their rescuers, she said awkwardly, "Thank you all. You have no idea how much in the nick of time you all arrived." Frank and Diane nodded at her smilingly, and Fabian said, "By the looks of it, it wouldn't have been so bad if we'd arrived five minutes before we actually did, now, would it?" Lily smiled and said, "Yeah. Now – can we got to Professor Dumbledore?"

Their decision made, they all started to walk out of the house. They all walked back to the passage entrance behind the Three Broomsticks, which was now empty. One by one, they lowered themselves into the manhole, and started making their way back to Hogwarts. Lily slipped her hand through Andromeda's, who squeezed it reassuringly. "Hey, don't worry – I think Professor Dumbledore will go easy on you after what you've been through."

Lily nodded back in relief. "How did you find us?" she asked. "Well, Diane and I were playing Wizard's Chess in the Prefects' office – it was vacant, and we were taking a break from our N.E.W.T. revision," began Andromeda. "Anyway, halfway through the game, we heard a knock on the door, and Frank and Alice entered. Frank said that Fabian and Gideon were about to sneak out of the school because they thought a few of the Gryffindor first-years were in trouble. He was going to go with them, Alice was going with him, and he had just come to tell us that if he wasn't back in a couple of hours, we were to go to Professor Dumbledore and tell him to come to Hogsmeade at once.

"Well, naturally, we objected. If someone was in danger, we were going to come too. Frank protested, what if it was a false alarm? But we were having none of it. In the end, Alice said that if it wasn't a false alarm, it would be a good idea to have us with them, and Frank agreed. I sent a message to Professor Dumbledore, telling him that we were headed out of the school to rescue some students, and if it was anything we couldn't handle, we'd call for his help. Then we met the Prewett twins at Agrippa's portrait, and to my great surprise, they showed us a secret passage that they said led straight into Hogsmeade! I'm nearly at the end of my education, and I didn't know about this!

"Anyway, we all followed this passage to Hogsmeade, and once we were in the village, we started to look around for you lot. We found neither hide nor hair of you, but just as we were going along to the edge of the village, we saw a number of hooded figures coming out of an alleyway. I smelt a rat at once, and we hid until they were gone before entering the alleyway. Then we saw the house where dim lights were visible, and peeped in through a window; we knew we'd struck Galleons because I recognized Bellatrix at once, and there was someone rolling on the floor. That's when we stormed the house and found you all."

"Fab and Gid asked me if I could come with them," piped up Frank from ahead of them. His voice was soft and calm. "That first-year, Pettigrew, I think it was – had just come to them with an incredible tale… Apparently, Peter's friends had snuck out of the school following Lucius Malfoy. I knew at once that meant Malfoy was most likely up to no good, so I came along to see if I could help – and Alice came with us, too. We told Peter to stay put in the common room – he shouldn't be wandering around the castle at night, alone. Then we all took the passage, and you know the rest."

"Peter came up to us when we were making our way up from the kitchens," said Fabian from behind them. "He seemed even more nervous and anxious than usual, and he told us that James and Sirius hadn't returned from Hogsmeade. We were inclined to believe that those two berks were playing an amusing joke on their rather dim friend, but when he said that you and Liz were with them, we realized that it was serious. We took him back to the common room, and asked Frank if he was in. He agreed to come, and you know what happened after that…"

Lily nodded pensively. So, Peter had come through for them. She felt a rush of thankfulness towards the fat, watery-eyed boy. He hadn't been too keen to accompany them, but at least he'd made sure that help would arrive. He had snuck out to warn Fabian and Gideon, and she was sure that wandering around the castle alone wouldn't have been easy for him. Come to think of it, she too would've found it difficult…

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Lily was pondering over what Bellatrix had said. Was this how the rest of the Wizarding World viewed people like her? Would she be relegated to being second-class all her life? In that case, it's a good thing there're decent people in the world, she thought, like Andromeda and Liz… And James Potter too…

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