Disclaimer: All characters (that you recognise) and settings belong to J.K. Rowling the author of Harry Potter. Anything you don't recognise belongs to me.
Story title: In the Beginning
Chapter 12: Legilemens.
Lily sighed deeply as stepped into the entrance of the huge castle.
"Everything alright Lil?" asked Remus with a concerned glance at his redheaded friend.
"Hmm.." replied Lily thoughtfully, " It's a little bit strange being back. I kinda got used to the muggle world."
Remus nodded, but before he had a chance to reply, he was spent along with the wave of students hurrying through the hallways.
"Rise and shine Lil!" shouted a chirpy voice the next morning.
"Urgh.. Alice!" grunted Lily into her red pillow, before turning over lazily in her warm comfortable bed.
"Aww c'mon Lil!.. its not that cold" responded Laura, who was busily combing her hair for what Alice suspected was the seventh time.
"Yeah, maybe just around minus 500 degrees rite?" interrupted a new voice. A male voice.
All eyes, bar Lily's, who recognized the voice, immediately turned to door, shock written on their faces.
"SIRIUS!" screeched Laura, " Get OUT! Ever heard of knocking?" she demanded as she pushed him out the door.
"Hey! Watch it! We just came to see Lily!" responded Sirius, before smartly stepping to the side, allowing Laura to fall head first into the corridor.
"Oops!" With a long look at Laura's furious face, Sirius turned back to survey the rest of the girls in the dormitory.
Alice simply stood hands on her hips, shaking her head though a mischievous smile was planted firmly on her face. Muriel was attempting to hide underneath her duvet, unsurprisingly in vain, considering she was also staring, and in James' eyes, nearly drooling at Sirius at the same time.
Lily however displayed barely any reaction at the sight of both Sirius, and James, who had followed him into the room. This was perhaps somewhat expected considering the fact that she had been awoken by them virtually everyday for the whole of the Christmas holidays.
"Hey Lil" announced Sirius, sitting down next to the red hair, that peeked out from underneath the duvet.
When his friend had no reply but a muffled, James reached over to tug lightly at a strand of Lily's hair, before beginning to tickle her mercilessly.
Instantly a high-pitched squealing filled the room, accompanied by the laughter of both the boys. Alice watched on in amusement, while both Muriel and Laura frowned in annoyance.
"OUCH! You pinched me! HE tickled you and you pinched ME!" cried Sirius indignantly.
"Oops. Sorry Sirius!" replied Lily as she finally surfaced, glaring at James as she did so. "Anyway… so what's up?"
"I figured it was time to start those flying lessons." Announced James.
"What! NO WAY!" cried Lily.
"Ohh.. C'mon Lil! We'll all be there," pointed out Sirius, before adding to James, " see Remus did say to tell her when she's not just woken up!"
"Well he was right!" interrupted Laura, " Now you can both leave. I don't want to know how you got up here, just don't come back!" she added pompously.
In unison, Sirius and James stuck their tongues out at the dark haired girl, before disappearing out the door, and from the crash that followed, triggering the slide on the staircase.
" So where's Adriana meeting us?" demanded Peter that evening, his teeth chattering from cold. "Are you sure you told her?"
"Yes. I'm sure I told her," replied Sirius, annoyance evident in his tone.
"And yes, she's meeting us here" added Lily, much more patiently. " Have you got a warming charm on your cloak?" she added thoughtfully, concerned about his constant shivering.
"Even if you have, I suggest you redo it," added James, looking impatiently at his clock and running his fingers through his hair.
Peter sighed, before removing his wand from his pocket. Aiming his wand at his cloak, though Remus noted his hand shook uncontrollably, he muttered the words of the incantation, " Ensulatus!"
"Ensulatus!" repeated Remus, refraining from rolling his eyes, or bursting into laughter as his other friends had done, "Peter, its Insulatus." He explained, " Here, I'll do it."
As Remus performed the spell, Lily glanced up toward the huge oak doors, and was relieved to see a cloaked figure, with dark brown hair hurrying towards them.
"Addy!" squealed the redhead before enveloping her friend into a hug. "It's so good to see you outside of lessons!"
Before Adriana could return the sentiments however, Sirius interrupted, "Yeah, yeah, it's nice to see her, now we can get started on this lesson!"
Lily looked nervously toward Remus before nodding her head reluctantly. Slowly she followed James towards the broom shed, took the broom he offered, and dragging her feet proceeded to the quidditch pitch.
"Aww. C'mon Lil its not THAT bad." Chuckled James, when he saw the look on her face.
Sirius opened his mouth to tease Lily about her reluctance, but catching the look on Lily's face, wisely shut his mouth.
Remus, being as sensible as sensible gets at the age of 12, set about organising the group.
"OK, obviously Lily's not going to want an audience while she learns to fly, so the rest of us, bar James of course, can mess around with a quaffle in the meantime."
"Right" said James once the others had taken off into the sky, and he had taught Lily the basics of mounting and gripping the broom. " I think you're ready for a go now Lil."
Turning slightly green at the thought of leaving the ground, Lily hesitantly prepared as James had instructed.
"That's right." Coached James, "Now kick off."
Steeling herself for her attempt at leaving the ground, Lily closed her eyes.
"OK Lily, 3….2….1….GO!" instructed James enthusiastically.
Then he waited.
……And waited.
"Err… Lil?" he began hesitantly, knowing full well what Lily's temper was like, "You were supposed to kick off."
"I can't" muttered Lily quietly, purposely not looking James in the eye.
"Why not? I taught you everything you need to know," pointed out James sensibly.
"I'm scared."
These two simple words explained everything to James. He'd seen it once in his younger cousin Zoë, when he and Michael had been trying to teach her to fly. Lily was scared of heights.
James knew there was only one way to solve this problem, and this solution was likely to make Lily very very mad. But for this cause, the ability to fly, James felt the risk was well worth it.
"Ok Lily, I'm going to go up on that broom with you, and we're just going to hover a little above the ground ok?"
Lily was silent for a while, and James had a terrible feeling she was going to say no.
"Promise? Promise you won't try anything scary?"
"Of course" replied James, carefully maintaining a straight face, while crossing his fingers behind his back.
From his view above , Remus watched with a knowing smile as James directed his broom upward, as Lily clung to his waist.
"Ohh she is gonna be MAD" thought Remus before deftly catching the quaffle that Sirius had thrown to him.
OK, thought James, preparing himself mentally for Lily's angry screaming in his ears. Let the fun begin.
And, with this thought, James began a series of twists and roller coaster turns that, as he had suspected left lily absolutely furious.
"JAMES! YOU PROMISED…AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" began Lily, just before James shot even higher into the air, at a speed that Lily was pretty sure broke all the speed rules in the country.
Her raven-haired friend however, continued to ignore her pleas, and with extreme enjoyment, continued to execute the moves he'd been practicing since before he could walk.
By the time James, finally set her down on the ground again, Lily had, as intended actually started to enjoy the experience, however there was no way in HELL, she was going to allow James to get away with the stunt he had just pulled.
"JAMES CONSTANTINE POTTER" she shrieked, " IF YOU EVER, EVER DO THAT AGAIN I WILL KILL YOU".
As she continued her tirade at James, her other friends, distracted from their game, came to his rescue.
"Err… Lily.." began Remus hesitantly, "No offence, but I think you're deafening him, and I think he gets the point." He added, knowing that the smirk on James' face did nothing to support his statement.
Before Lily, could respond however Sirius butted in. "Your middle name is Constantine!" he asked James, already bubbling with laughter.
"..Err…ye…" muttered James in response, already blushing heavily. "How DID you know that Lily?"
" Caitlin told me" Lily said matter of factly, already losing her anger, "I don't think it's that bad," she added.
"Says flower girl whose middle name is Rose" muttered Sirius evilly.
"Sirius!" cried Lily, who HATED being called a flower girl. "You wait, you just wait" she called as Sirius, hurriedly mounted his broom and flew off.
Barely thinking about it, Lily grabbed her broom, and had settled down on it, before she realised what she was doing, and stopped, glancing nervously at her friends.
"Go on Lily, you can do it" supported James, while Remus nodded his head in agreement.
Setting her jaw, and gritting her teeth, Lily kicked of hard from the ground, and before she knew it she was in the air.
Thinking frantically back to James' instructions earlier, and trying to block out the panic, Lily leant forward and zoomed towards the speck in the distance that was Sirius.
What followed was a very amusing chase, complete with girlish screams from Sirius, and a lot of laughter from the remainder of the group.
By the end of the evening, when Remus wisely suggested they return to their dorms, Lily was as comfortable as the others on a broom, and though she would probably never admit it, tremendously grateful to James for helping her to learn, despite his rather controversial methods.
Adriana entered into the Slytherin common, tired but for one of the first times at Hogwarts, happy. As she glided in, almost on a cloud, she noticed a group of people gathered around the sofa.
Not wanting to ruin her good mood, Adriana slid into the shadows, and was almost safely away the staircase, when a horrifyingly familiar voice spoke.
"We have to get them back. I will not turn the other cheek, to some mudblood, a mud-blood lover and his friends, one of whom is a blood traitor." Thundered the voice of the head boy.
"Nor will I." Agreed another 7th year, while the remainder of the group nodded. A group which, Adriana noticed, consisted of a variety of years, all of whom had one thing in common, the fact that they despised her.
Adriana was a smart witch, she knew that they were talking about her friends, and she knew, that the Slytherins would not fight fair.
As she stood there, like a statue in the night, she listened as they concocted their viscous and cruel plan, and in her mind she calculated a plan of her own to save her friends.
The next morning, Lily was sharply awoken by a large tawny owl, that pecked her awake.
"All right, All right, I'm up" she grumbled, reaching drowsily for the letter that it brought.
LILY,
GET REMUS, JAMES, SIRIUS AND PETER, AND MEET ME NEAR THE WHOMPING WILLOW.
ADRIANA
Lily, was instantly wide-awake. Like her, Adriana was not a morning person, so she knew that whatever her friend had to say was important. Grabbing on her cloak, Lily hurried to the boys' dormitory.
Once she finally managed to drag them out of bed, and along with her, Lily told them about Adriana's letter, and her request to meet them.
"The whomping willow!" Remus asked, fearing that Adriana had somehow found out his secret. "Why on earth would she choose that place?" he repeated, barely suppressing the fear in his voice and panic on his face.
"Aww, is little Remmy scared of the big bad tree?" teased Sirius before Lily could reply."I am NOT scared of the tree" replied Remus somewhat indignantly, to his laughing friends.
"You are" responded Sirius still chuckling.
"Am not"
"Are"
"Am not"
This bickering went on for some while until both James and Lily reached round and smacked Sirius and Remus respectively, smartly on the head.
"OW!"
Returning to the great hall for breakfast, shortly after Adriana, so has not to arouse suspicion, the quintet took their regular seats at the Gryffindor table, and awaited the post.
As Adriana had warned them, each received a letter from "Hagrid" inviting them to meet him just inside the forbidden forest, so he could "show them the creatures."
Knowing Hagrid as they did, the quintet realised that this was a very plausible story and, had Addy not warned them, they would have walked straight into the trap that the Slytherins had set.
The Slytherins :that evening"Stupid bloody Gryffindors can't even make it here on time, for their precious Hagrid." Lucius Malfoy muttered viscously nearly an hour after the Gryffindors were expected.
"Should we leave?" asked Genevieve Frost nervously. She was a sixth year, who was clearly not entirely comfortable with the whole idea.
"NO." snapped out Riddle curtly, " We wait another half hour."
Malfoy glanced at his voice again, it was 8:30, thirty-five minutes since Riddle's last order, and yet Riddle still made no mood to leave. Malfoy however, had no intention of pointing out the time, lest it bring Riddle's wrath down on him.
Shifting nervously yet again, Malfoy attempted to pull his cloak tighter around him, against the cold night air, when finally Riddle stood up.
"They've been tipped off." He announced, he face twisted in contempt. " even if they hadn't, the amount of noise Malfoy was making, they would have caught on anyway." He added; throwing a dirty look in Lucius' direction while everyone else smirked.
When the small group finally arrived back in the Slytherin dungeon, they found Adriana seated by the fire attempting her potions homework.
Stalking over to her, and without waiting for her to notice him looming above her, Riddle simply snatched away her parchment, ripped it up and let it fall to the floor.
"You told them." He snarled, and clenched his fists. "Do you have no shame? Gryffindors I ask you, we tried to teach you, but you refuse to learn. Maybe it's time for you to have another lesson." He growled, his eyes shooting daggers at her, as his fellow conspirators circled around him, like a predator ready for its prey.
Adriana closed her eyes, this time almost ready for the pain, and when it didn't come, opened her eyes slowly in fear.
To her surprise however, all eyes were no longer on her, but on a tall blonde, with cold blue eyes, who confronted Riddle with her hands on her hips.
"For God's sake Riddle. She's a Hathway. A Hathway, and yet you dare to touch her. Why her father has allowed it so far is his decision, but this, I assure you, this will be unacceptable." She said, her eyes burning , annoyance evident on her beautiful but icy features. "Punishing her for something we KNOW she is responsible for, is one thing, punishing her for again for one we cannot PROVE is another. You may be head boy here at Hogwarts, but out there in the wizarding world, you need all the allies you can get." She threatened, looking him straight in the eye.
Riddle was no fool. He knew she was right, and that he had let his temper get the better of him. But more than that, he knew that ignoring her advice, given her family, would be more than foolish, it would be suicidal.
"Fine Malfoy." He agreed. "If we can prove it was her, she must be punished, if not, she gets away with yet another warning" he said, sliding his cool gaze onto Adriana, as if seeing through her.
"Snape." He called, and then waited until the small greasy haired first year stepped forward. " we've all heard tell of your skills as a mind reader. Penetrate her mind." He ordered him.
Once again, all eyes turned to Adriana, and this time, with the eyes of the tall blonde on her, she felt more nervous than ever.
"Legilemens." Cried Snape, his wand directed at the petite brunette.
All eyes, watched Adriana expectantly, and yet somehow she felt nothing. She waited…And waited
"I can't penetrate her mind." He finally announced a few minutes later. "She's blocking me." He explained, his face twisted in embarrassment.
"Fool." Cried Riddle, " Try again."
Snape tried once more but with the same result.
"The girl is blocking to protect herself." Announced Riddle finally, " Clearly she is guilty."
The tall blonde gave Adriana a shrewd calculating look.
"She hasn't had lessons in defence," she stated thoughtfully, "Her father would have told mine. A natural ability such as this is however, an interesting turn in events." She added, almost to herself.
Sensing that he clearly was not to get his way, Riddle stalked off, leaving his friends to disband while whispering fiercely, until only the cool, tall blonde remained.
"Interesting." She repeated, while using a slender finger to lift Adriana's chin. "I remember you when you were just a child" she told Adriana, " You've been given a trait that could help you to fit in, use it. You can't survive in this house without allies. Remember that. If that fool of a head boy gives you any further trouble, look for me. Ask for Thalia." She added before turning to walk away, and then noticing the pieces of parchment that littered the floor.
"Your homework, I assume.Reparo." even as she said the incantation, the parchment reformed itself , and landed smartly back on the table.
Without another word, Thalia Malfoy walked away from the small table in the cold Slytherin dungeon, leaving Adriana to sort through her confusion.
Yep ppl. That's it for this chappie. I actually like this chapter quite a bit, so hopefully you will too, and you'll….REVIEW!
I'll try to get the next chappie up soon.
Until next time, keep reading, keep talking but above all keep smiling!
Love tripletrouble
xxx
