20 – The Eye in the Sky

Snape and Lily waved their wands like conductors guiding a symphony orchestra, but instead of making music, their wands shot purple beams into the sky creating a massive electrical storm. The storm hung over Willow Grove, a purple cloud continuously morphing from all of the beams that ricocheted off the willow trees and different sides of the mountain.

"Carpe retractum!" shouted Lily.

"Carpe retractum!" followed Snape, a second after Lily.

The charm was coming out with staccato bursts, as quickly as they could say it, purple beams flying everywhere, often times missing their targets but plenty lassoing the crows and vultures. The lassoed birds were flung back and thrown inside a clear bubble that confined them like a bird cage. After collecting maybe a hundred birds inside the bubble, Lily turned to Snape. "Do you think that's enough?"

He nodded and pointed his wand at the bubble. It slowly started to float in the air, moving further into the Gorge until it hovered directly over one of the glass doppelganger trees. "I hope this works. Do you want to do it, or should—"

Lily immediately pointed her wand, and a red lightning bolt shot out like an arrow; it struck the bubble head on and burst it . The aftereffect of the birds disseminating looked like a rock that had been thrown into a pile of ash—gray and black was swirling everywhere.

"I don't hear anything," said Lily. "Do you really think it's going to work?"

"Give it a second."

From the precipice outside Boggarts Cave, they moved quickly down to some fringe willow trees in the Gorge. The ground began to shake. Moments later, the tremors became so violent that they could have been mistaken for an earthquake if it weren't for the stream of blue.

Blue unicorns, in the tens and twenties, stampeded toward the glass tree where the crows and vultures still remained in the vicinity.

"It's working! They think the birds are a threat to the doppelganger." She looked at Snape approvingly.

"We don't have much time. Come on."

They rushed further into Willow Gorge and came to the doppelganger tree that was nearest them. The blue unicorns were maybe four hundred meters away, completely drawn in by the birds. But the diversion wouldn't last long, and Snape knew it.

Both he and Lily reached for the shovel-axes they had transfigured from tree branches moments before. They were crude and misshapen, nothing like the shovel-axes in the mural, but they would have to do.

Snape and Lily looked at the iridescent blue roots, sitting just above the ground, protruding from the tree. Neither knew where to start. The roots looked like a bunch of loaves of bread connected to each other, squirming over the land like a snake.

"I guess we could start here?" Snape wasn't sure how this would work. He raised the shovel-axe over his head and swung it down, aiming for the connector between two iridescent loaves—it made the sound of crunching bone before one of the loaves popped up.

"Wow, that wasn't too bad." He pulled it up from the ground, and a thin film of white dust shot into the air. It was only for a second, but he swore that he saw a reflection of himself.

Lily swung down on another area of the root, and one of the loaves popped up. She pulled it from the ground, and the same thing happened. A white film hung in the air momentarily, and it formed the outline of her face. "Sev, was that… me?"

"I think so. Maybe it's because the root has cloning properties. It can't clone a human but—"

Lily swung her shovel-axe again, and this time the outline of her face smiled at her. When Snape swung his, it showed a serious look. Lily started moving faster, popping up more and more of the blue roots. Each white dusting showed a happy picture of her; there was one of her laughing, one with her tongue sticking out, and another one of her winking. But his were all expressions of doom and gloom.

"Do you have that black leather sack ready? I've pulled up a lot." She stopped and looked at the loaves scattered near the tree. She had done maybe ten in only a few minutes.

Snape pulled out the leather sack with the extension charm and began to collect the root. Each one felt like a light brick, not nearly as heavy as rumored. "You know, I think this is going to work okay."

They got into a rhythm where Lily swung the shovel-axe, and he did the collecting. After they had acquired maybe twenty loaves in all, he did a quick check around the perimeter. Meters away, he could hear the unicorns still racing after the birds in the vicinity. "Lily, let's get out of here. I think this is good enough."

"One more. I want to see what face this one makes."

She swung down, and the dust made a face as if blowing a kiss to her. She started to giggle, and even this silly face brought Snape a chuckle.

The ground started to shake.

"LILY!"

He had no idea how the blue unicorn had come upon them so quickly. She started to run to the side as he tried to dive in front of it, but it swiftly maneuvered around him. It lowered its head and rammed its horn directly into her side. Snape looked in horror as the unicorn stood on its hind legs, raising Lily into the air, its horn grinding further into her body. It thrashed its head forward, and Lily was tossed into a willow tree like a doll. Her body became entangled in the branches, and Snape felt a chill run down his spine—she wasn't moving. He felt another chill when he noticed that the champagne-colored branches had turned dark red.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" He pointed his wand towards the unicorn. Nothing came out. He didn't even know the Killing Curse, only its incantation.

The blue unicorn began to fling dirt behind itself. It was getting ready to charge. Even worse, Snape could feel the ground begin to shake more violently. It was only a matter of time before the other unicorns sensed his presence and found him.

The unicorn charged.

"Carpe retractum!" A purple beam shot from his wand but it bounced off the unicorn. "Depulso!" The banishing charm was deflected as well. The unicorn was closing in. "Come on! Depulso!" Snape gave it one last try, and though the charm hit the unicorn directly between its eyes, its progress didn't slow.

In the background, he could see ten, maybe twenty, other unicorns racing in his direction.

Snape closed his eyes and waited to be speared. He felt a gust of wind, and suddenly the ground wasn't shaking.

What he saw next was a miracle. A giant, gold eye in the sky was sucking the leaves from the willow trees and pulling the blue unicorns into it.

His mouth hung open. "How?"

And then he saw the answer. There was a cloaked figure on a broom waving a wand, creating the miracle.

After the unicorns had been sucked into the gold eye, and subsequently flung into the northwestern corner of Willow Gorge, the cloaked figure zoomed over to the tree where Lily was entangled. The person murmured some words, and the branches parted, clearing the way for Lily to float softly to the ground.

Snape rushed over. "Lily!" Before he could reach her, the cloaked figure held up his hand and Snape felt his legs stiffen. He couldn't move.

The mysterious person looked at the blood draining from her side, covering the entire portion of her lower body. More words were murmured, and the bleeding stopped.

"Who are you? Let me near her! I demand you," said Snape.

But the cloaked figure didn't even seem to care that he was there. The person continued murmuring words, and some of the crimson on her clothes began to vanish.

"Hey!" yelled Snape.

The person continued to work on Lily for the next five minutes, but then abruptly stopped. The cloaked figure turned to Snape and pulled back the hood.

Snape gasped.

"She needs to come with me if she's going to live." Lord Voldemort carefully draped Lily over his right shoulder as he mounted his broom.