Chapter 10 – The Fourth Clue:

When she caught sight of the owl, Lily immediately pulled away from Eddie and went to grasp the scroll before the bird screeched and flew away hurriedly. Eddie watched anxiously as Lily swore and cursed loudly at the bird and unrolled it.

"Damn," she hissed as she glared at the parchment.

"What?"

"Another bloody riddle!" bellowed Lily, throwing the parchment in the air. She started pacing the ground and loudly demanding that the midnight black owl return and start giving her real answers. Eddie watched her, feeling slightly uncomfortable with her behavior but it did not surprise him. As long as he had known her, Lily was infamous for losing her temper when things did not go her way. Not thinking, he bent down to retrieve the scroll and read the riddle quietly to himself.

I made of marble and precious stone

A gift to one of the greatest loves ever known

Representing death with birth

I am one of the greatest wonders on earth

Sighing and running a hand through his bushy, red hair, Eddie looked up and watched hopelessly as Lily ranted and roared at the midnight owl which had already disappeared. Her voice had gone hoarse and she sounded close to desperation and tears.

The fact that Lily was so distressed over the situation probably meant bad news for Jane and their chances of them getting her back safely. But, surprisingly, Eddie was not worried about Jane; to his disgust and shock, he was more concerned for Lily. Taking a rash chance, Eddie walked over to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. She whipped around and glared at him with blazing eyes but he stood his ground, strongly reminded of all of the other times that she had lost her temper with him when they had been children and teenagers. Eddie could not help but inwardly grin.

"I'm not sure how many times I have to remind you of this, Lily Potter," said Eddie seriously, taking a deep breath. "But freaking out and losing your temper is not going to help our situation. We might as well calm down and try to solve this riddle. There is nothing else we can do."

Lily's face flushed and her eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me how to do my job, Weasley," she hissed venomously. Her hand was clutching her wand so tightly that her knuckles were turning sickeningly white.

"I wasn't trying-"

"SHUT-UP!" bellowed Lily, her hair now getting frantic and her face was bright red. Eddie was not sure if it was from anger or embarrassment. "JUST SHUT-UP!" Without another word, she Disapparated, leaving Eddie feeling speechless and in a state of panic.

"LILY?" he yelled frantically. "LILY? COME BACK! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

Eddie began panicking and pacing the stone castle, not entirely sure how he was going to explain this to Lily.

When Eddie finally found Lily's flat, after wandering about the city for several hours, he reached the front door of her flat and found it unlocked. When he opened it, he found Lily completely wrecking the place. She was clearly frustrated. Why? Eddie did not know. Was it because she was frustrated with him and his up and down feelings for her? Or was it because she felt that the kidnappers were toying with them and that Jane was probably already dead.

"Lily?" he asked cautiously.

"Don't start, Ed," she yelled furiously. "There is something…off about this case. There is something deeper and as narcissistic as this sounds, I feel that…well…this isn't just about Jane."

"What else could it be about?"

"Again, this is going to sound narcissistic, but I feel like that…I have something to do with this whole thing.

Eddie sighed and looked down at his feet, feeling he was going to regret the words he was about to say. "Lily, this may sound horrible but there is a part of me that doesn't care anymore. Yes, I would like to find Jane alive and I hope that she is okay, but that I'm not sure whether I want to be with her anymore…"

"Why the bloody hell not?" she snapped impatiently.

"Because of you, Lily…I think….I think I want to be with you."

Eddie's words caused Lily's eyes to widen slowly; horrified. "No…" she whispered. "No…"

"Lily…"

"NO!" she shrieked, backing away from him. "You…you stay away from me, Edward Weasley. Stay away! I…I could never…never…I could never accept you after all that you've done to me and your family!"

"Lily, don't you see?" asked Eddie desperately. "None of that matters to me anymore. I understand you can't accept me, but that doesn't change my feelings for you. Whether you choose to accept me or not, I could never love anyone the way I love you and that wouldn't be fair to any other woman. It's you or nothing, Lily Potter." There was a long, uncomfortable silence as Lily did not say anything or react in anyway. She just stared at Eddie, blankly; her face completely void of emotion.

"Lily, please say something…"

After another long, uncomfortable pause, Lily shook her head. "No," she whispered. "Nothing will or could ever happen between us. I am only here to do my job. The second we find Jane, whether dead or alive, I will return to my job as Mistress of Magic and I expect you to walk out of my life forever and have nothing to do with each other, just as you did before!" Without another word, Lily stormed into her bedroom, slamming and locking the door behind her with a loud, angry click.

Eddie sighed in defeat, his heart and stomach both racing. He felt as though he was out of breath. There was nothing else for him to do but to try and get some sleep, which did not happen as he was restless on the uncomfortable couch.

After a night of frightening dreams, Eddie awoke the next morning to see an infuriating, cold, and quickly written note from Lily on the kitchen table.

Eddie,

After what happened last night, I don't think it is appropriate for you to accompany me any longer on this case. I will find Jane on my own.

However, you are more than welcome to remain at my flat so that I will be able to easily contact you with any updates I may have.

Best of luck to you,

Lily

Absolutely infuriated, Eddie clenched the note in his hand, not believing that Lily would abandon him like this, but in some ways, could he really be that surprised? In a way, he actually understood. He had confessed his undying love for her; a love she did not want. Lily clearly wanted nothing to do with him and she made that very clear but yet he kept throwing himself at her; both physically and emotionally. It was no wonder she left him behind. In truth, it was the most professional thing she could have done.

Despite this, Eddie was frightened for Lily; worried about her. He kept thinking about what had happened at King Tut's tomb and he knew that he had to go after her, that he had to protect her in some way. He did not think he would be able to handle it if something bad happened to Lily and he could have been there to prevent it. However, it disgusted him that he was not worried about Jane's safety at all; that he was more worried about something bad happening to Lily.

Eddie made an internal decision to defy Lily's orders and go after her. But how? She had left without him and did not offer a clue as to where she was going. However there was a clue; a big clue. In order to try and go after her, Eddie knew that he had to try and decipher the clue. Since Lily wrote all of the information down in her notebook, she had left behind the paper that the original clue was written on.

Anxiously, Eddie studied the fourth clue.

Meanwhile, Lily had been up until all hours of the night studying the clue, realizing that answer was the Taj Mahal, as it was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. She had it narrowed to that, and realized that the Tah Mahal was mostly made of marble, precious, and semi-precious stones and an emperor, Shah Jahan, had had it built in honor of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal, after she had died giving birth to their fourteenth child. He had been completely grief-stricken over her death and had it built as a tribute to her. So, it was a tribute to a great love and there had been a birth in spite of her death. All of the clues added up to the Taj Mahal.

The only thing that concerned Lily was that while Mumtaz Mahal had most certainly been a Muggle, it was uncertain to whether Shah Jahan was a wizard or Muggle. It had been speculated that he had been a wizard, but lived in fear of being persecuted and kept it hidden. He never attended a wizarding school but because of the magnificence of the Taj Mahal, it could only be explained that he used magic to make it.

Lily was concerned because if Shah Jahan had been a wizard , then it will have magical properties. And if pattern was any indication, then there would certainly be a trap waiting for her, just as there had been at King Tut's tomb. If Shah Jahan was a Muggle, then she would be safe. Either way, was it a chance she was willing to take?

Lily knew that she had no choice. She had to take a chance. She had a mission and she was determined to finish it. Not just to continue her pristine reputation, but to make sure that Eddie as out of her life permanently. Lily wanted no excuse to having him around continuously proclaiming his undying love for her; a love she did not want to and could not return.

Acting as a tourist, holding a Muggle camera and wearing sunglasses, Lily bravely approached the Taj Mahal. Studying it, in order not to endanger the life of the Muggles or herself, in case it did have any magical properties and or traps, Lily ultimately decided to enter the famous, grand building after hours, using her Invisibility Cloak.

A note from the Jitterbelle. The story is complete and I will be posting the final chapters tonight and tomorrow. I am apologize for the delay; life and adulting just continue to get in the way of the things I would like to do. I hope those will continuing reading this story. Thanks for your continued support!