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"Your heart understands what your head cannot yet conceive; trust your heart."
-Anonymous

Chapter 21: The Cold Hard Truth

Cora walked down to breakfast alone, on the day of the school ball. Kyra would have been with her, but Sirius had taken her to the kitchens to have breakfast alone. She didn't care about them dating anymore, at least, not as much. After the almost two months of the two dating, she had started getting over him. It wasn't something she was going to get over quickly, but over time it was going to heal. She was getting stronger everyday, at least in the Sirius issue.

Today as she walked down the halls, she heard footsteps walking behind her. She looked back to see who it was, but turned to find no one. Cora just shook her head; she was starting to imagine things, which was not a good sign of her current sanity. When she started walking again, the footsteps returned. Cora turned, and again saw no one. She stood there trying to think of a reason for someone following her. Maybe it was Kyra or Lily trying to scare her…yeah, that was probably it. But when Cora's eyes and mouth were covered and she felt herself being pulled somewhere, she knew it was something serious.

When her eyes were uncovered, she found herself in an old, unused classroom. Around her were five people dressed with black cloaks, similar to the Hogwarts' ones, and their head's covered; ropes bound her hands and feet.

"Why haven't you answered the letter yet?" the tallest male said.

"What letter?" Cora asked, her voice starting to panic. The tall man that spoke was not one of the seventh year Gryffindors, this was either real or one the greatest pranks ever completed in Hogwarts. But why would a great prank be wasted on her?

"Don't play stupid Tetherwood, we know you got the letter," the same man said.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Cora said. In truth she didn't know what they were talking about. She hadn't gotten any letters since the one Dumbledore gave her; were they talking about that?

"Don't pull that shit on me, I know you got the letter. Which one of you morons sent her the letter?" the same man said.

There was no answer from the other four.

"You little fuckers…" he said, pointing his wand toward each of them. They all moved back in freight; Cora could tell he was the ringleader of the five. "Alright, since none of these assholes sent you the letter, I will have to tell you what it said myself. Our Master wants you to join his ranks."

Cora's eye widened, the Dark Lord wanted her to become a death eater. Which meant that these people talking to her were death eaters. She didn't know he was recruiting people not even out of school.

"As a gift for becoming one of us, Master has agreed to give you and your family protection from the killings of this war."

Cora opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. She didn't want to join their side. They were the reason her parents were dead, she didn't want to be part of that cause. She couldn't stand having the guilt of being the reason for children crying over their parents' death. She didn't want other people to suffer like her.

"Do you have an answer or not? Not that you have a real choice," the man said.

Cora worked up all her courage, she didn't realize until that moment that she had any, "Never."

"What," the man said, grabbing her collar and throwing her against a wall. "Master always gets what he wants. He will get you on his side, mark my words. One more thing, it would be in you best interests if you didn't tell anyone about this. Deaths are something Dumbledore doesn't like to clean up around here."

The man punched her in the face, with a force that made her fall to the floor. While she lay there, the five death eaters left the room and before they left one of them untied her bindings by magic. Cora didn't know if it had anything to do with being a Gryffindor, but she felt stronger by saying no to them. She got off the floor and left for the Great Hall, not caring if she had a black eye. She had the feeling she didn't, not that anyone would care if she did.

"Cora, what took you so long?" Lily asked, as Cora sat down with her friends at the table.

"Went for a walk," Cora said, she knew now she didn't have a black eye; but it still hurt a bit.

"Are you sure," Kyra said, "Or did the blonde get lost again?"

"Seems I'm caught red handed," Cora said, half-heartedly laughing at the comment.

"Well you pretty much missed breakfast," Lily said.

"Yeah," Cora said. She was glad they didn't stick on the subject of her missing; she didn't want to talk about it. Were they serious in saying that they would kill her if she told anyone. 'Of course,' she thought, 'these are death eaters, and they kill in their free time.' She felt weird admitting it, but she was scared. She didn't want to die, but she didn't want to join them either. She wanted to talk to someone about the encounter, to tell her that what she had done was the right thing, but who was there to talk to? Kyra would end up telling Sirius about the encounter, and once Sirius knew, it wouldn't be long until the whole school knew. Lily, she would freak out and probably never leave her side for the rest of year. Cora knew she couldn't tell a professor; it would lead to mayhem in the school. There was no one Cora could really trust with this secret. A secret, she seemed to have a lot of those lately. It wasn't that she didn't trust her friends anymore, but more that she was afraid of how they would react to her. She didn't want to be over protected or have special treatment because of who she was; she just wanted to be a normal kid. But it seemed that being normal in the wizarding world wasn't always an option.

Cora came out of her thoughts and found Kyra talking to Sirius.

"What time are we leaving?" she asked.

"About seven," Sirius said, moving closer to her.

"Sounds nice," Kyra said, moving right next him.

'Did they have to be so public,' Cora thought, moving her attention toward Lily.

"I am going to head toward the dorm, I still have to pick out an outfit," Lily said, getting up from the table.

"It's still early, are you kidding me?" James said, he obviously wanted some time with Lily.

"I am just picking out my outfit, then I am going to the library to do some homework," Lily said.

"But we have all break to do homework," James said.

"I'd rather finish it now then do it while I'm home," Lily said, leaving the Great Hall.

With Kyra occupied and Lily gone, Cora had no other reason to sit at the table. Without saying a word, she left the table. She needed some alone time to think anyway.

"Does anyone else notice Cora acting a bit weird lately?" Remus asked, when Cora was out of earshot.

Kyra, coming out of her moment with Sirius said, "Yea, me and Lily noticed it too."

"I don't see what the problem is. She is still upset that I didn't go out with her. Honestly, if I went out with every mediocre student in this school, I would loose my reputation." Sirius said.

"Don't say that about my friend," Kyra said, hitting Sirius lightly.

"Sorry babe," Sirius said, although he wasn't the least bit sorry.

"I think she would have gotten over that by now," Remus said.

"Why your sudden interest in Cora, Remus. Have a crush on her?" Kyra asked.

"No, do I need to like someone to ask a simple question about them?" Remus asked, he now wished he never brought the subject up. He knew something was wrong with Cora, but he wasn't sure what it was. He figured Kyra or Lily would know the answer, but he had guessed wrong. He knew, what ever she was going through, had something to do with blood; whether it is hers, or someone else's. She had the scent of blood on her, almost as if she used it as a perfume (as a werewolf he could smell blood anywhere). However on certain days it was stronger then others and the funny thing was, on the days she looked the most down, were the same days the scent would be it's strongest. Remus now knew that Kyra didn't know what was going on with Cora, but maybe Lily knew something. He would ask her soon.

"Fine Remus, keep your secrets. Well, I am going to leave you now, I probably have to help Lily pick out an outfit that will match perfectly," Kyra said, kissing Sirius on the forehead and then leaving the Hall.

"Cora Tetherwood, you can do better then that Moony," Sirius said.

"I don't like her," Remus said.

"I agree. You can do better. If you want a girlfriend, there are a few hot Ravenclaws who have their eye on you," James said.

"I don't like her, ok. Why do I even try?" Remus said, getting up and leaving.

"He's got it bad," James said.

"I don't understand why Cora though, what is so special about her?" Sirius said.

"Beats me Padfoot," James said, as the three left the Great Hall.

That night, most of the school was busy getting ready for the ball. The teachers were finishing up decorating the Great Hall and the students were either dressing or waiting for their date at a meeting place; meeting places ranged from at their common room entrance to being in the front of the Great Hall. This chaos made the common room almost empty, so the seven Gryffindors who were not planning on attending the ball could relax in comfort. Although they had the seats to themselves, the noise coming from the frantic people scurrying to the place they needed to be, made it seem like a Friday night right after curfew. The group knew the ball started at 7, and they figured the best time to start sneaking out was about twenty minutes before the ball. They were ready to leave; they just waited for the best time. When most people started leaving, that was their signal to leave.

They traveled in two groups of two and one group on three: Remus and Peter, Kyra and Sirius, and Cora, Lily, and James. The groups left five minutes apart, as to not draw attention to them leaving, as a group of seven would do. The teachers were taking many precautions to make sure the students who wanted to travel outside the school grounds were not going far. The teachers did not want Voldemort or his death eaters ruining the students' night. Because the teachers were already jumpy, the seven Gryffindor students had to make sure they didn't cause problems while they were sneaking out, since the four boys' not attending the ball was already suspicious enough.

All seven reached the statue a few minutes after seven, they could tell because the music from the Great Hall started filling every corner of the castle. The statue was of a horse. It stood almost seventeen hands high with the body of a Thoughbred; had the horse been real, it would most likely be used for racing. While Lily was studying the horse, she heard Sirius mutter something under his breath. The spell, as Lily figured it was, caused the horse to come alive. It went up on his hind legs and neighed. It began circling the seven and its cry's became louder and louder, until James raised his hand up and reached the horse's nose.

"There, there girl. Calm down." James said, rubbing the nose of the horse. The horse bowed to the group as James stopped petting it.

The seven were pulled into a tunnel; it felt similar to that of traveling with the use of a portkey, along with the spinning of floo powder. They landed, on their feet, in the middle of an empty field. Surrounding where the teenagers were, were seven small stones.

"Are those stones the only way back?" Lily asked.

"Yeah," Remus said, walking up to one of them. "But don't worry about anyone picking them up, if someone does it will either find it's way back or a new one will regenerate in it's place."

"Oh," Lily said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Where are we anyway?" Kyra asked, looking around and not seeing anything except a light in the distance.

"We are going there," Sirius said, pointing to the light in the distance.

"I was afraid you would say that," Kyra said, dreading the long walk they faced.

So the group began their walk to the bright lights in the distance, since the girls still had no idea where they were going. They walked in silence as they passed the sights along the way: a dilapidated barn, and a graveyard. When they reached close enough music, colored lights, and noises of people were heard.

"What is that?" Kyra asked, looking around the place confused.

"Is this," Lily said, "a carnival?"

"A carnival, what's that?" Kyra asked.

"This," Sirius whispered in her ear; Kyra laughed at his action.

"Can we go on the ferris wheel first?" Lily asked, bringing her hands together by her chest and jumping up and down. Lily hadn't been to a carnival since she was little, so she was extremely excited.

"Sure," James said, as Lily grabbed the other two girls and ran to the attraction; the boys followed after.

The group traveled together for a few hours, playing games and going on other rides. But soon the hour came when James and Sirius became anxious, they wanted some alone time. Kyra and Sirius left first, and then James and Lily separated from the group.

"I'll be off then," Cora said, leaving the two remaining boys.

"You find anything out about her?" Peter asked.

"Not really. We already knew her parents were killed last year, but I also found out that almost her whole family was taken out," Remus said, leaning against a wall. "The only family she has left is her brother Alex."

"How did they survive if the rest of the family was killed?" Peter asked.

"Not sure. I found out all this stuff from Lily, she never asked."

"We have to find out," Peter said.

"You act like this is easy. Neither of us are friends with her, she wouldn't tell us something like that," Remus said.

"How do you know that?" Peter asked.

"She wouldn't tell Lily, that says something," Remus said, ending the conversation.

Lily and James walked in silence for a few moments.

Lily didn't know what to say or do. Her heart wanted to be with him, but her head kept reminding her of his arrogant attitude. But, he had changed. He didn't seem like that bigheaded teenager he was last year. She hated him, and yet liked him. Lily was confused; in a situation like this, did you follow your head or heart?

"So what do you want to do?" James said, breaking the awkward silence between the two.

James had been waiting for this for years. He didn't count the last date they had, that was forced. But this, they agreed on this. James hated to admit it, but he was nervous. Never in his dating life had he been nervous on a date. He was scared he would mess up again and force Lily to separate from him. He wanted to let her know the real him, the person barely anyone else knew.

"I don't know," Lily said, as they continued walking.

"House of Mirrors?" James asked, motioning to the building next to them.

"Sure," Lily said with a smile.

They walked into the attraction, James ahead of Lily. They walked for a bit, James was always about five steps in front of Lily, until Lily screamed.

"What happened?" James asked, his voice strangely being a serious tone.

"I just saw a rat," Lily said, jumping up and down in disgust from the rat.

"It's just a rat, what is so bad about them?" James said, laughing.

"It's not funny," Lily said, hitting James on the arm and talking in the tone of a five-year-old spoiled brat. "I hate rats almost as much as I hate bugs."

"You're such a girl," James said, taking her hand and leading her through the maze.

"Shut up," Lily said, not bothering to remove her hand from his grasp.

James was surprised that she didn't object to him taking her hand. Maybe she liked him more then she let on. Lily was always the girl that James could never figure out, which could be the reason why he liked her so much. There were many girls who would go out with him in a second; it was kind of ironic that the only girl he really wanted was the one he couldn't have. That is how his feelings toward Lily started; he wanted something he couldn't have. His fascination with her soon turned into a liking. He was knocked back to reality by feeling Lily's hand tense in his own. 'Say something,' he told himself; the awkward silence was killing him.

"You know Lily, I would have never thou-" James said, but was cut off by him running straight into one of the mirrors.

Lily burst out with laugher, but in the mist of her giggles she managed to say, "Are you okay?"

"I think so," James said, bringing his hand up to his head.

"Let me see," Lily said, her laugher ceasing. James took his hand away and let her look at his forehead. She touched it with her hand, which caused him to flinch.

"Oh you big baby, it's not even red. But if it is sore now, you might have a bruise tomorrow," Lily said, taking her hand off of his forehead.

"Great. I might have a big spot on my forehead tomorrow, that's just great," James said.

Lily laughed, "You might you might not, it depends."

"Depends on what?" James said, realizing how close they were.

Lily realized how close they were, and she felt herself leaning in, James followed Lily's actions. They were only a few millimeters apart when laugher was heard in the maze. The two broker apart.

"We should go," Lily said, turning and going through the rest of the maze, with James on her heals.

James snapped his figures in disappointment.

Cora sat by herself, close to where the rocks were that would bring the seven back to Hogwarts. She would have been thinking about how alone she was at the moment, but her mind was filled with thoughts she never thought she would think about. Voldemort wanted her on his side. But why would a powerful, but evil, wizard want her on his side. She had nothing special to give…complex dueler. Is that why he wanted her, just because she would someday have the art of complex dueling perfected? He wanted to use her, but isn't that what Dumbledore would do if she stayed on his side. Whichever side she was on, they would only need her because of her abilities. They would probably put her in the front line of a battle with the other side, not caring if she lived or died. She would be forced to fight to the death, whether it was for the light or darkness.

If she worked for the light, for Dumbledore, she risked the life of her friends and brother. She knew Voldemort would make her pay if she did not join him, but what he would do exactly was a mystery. He would either kill her, so that no one would be able to make use of her ability, or he would attack her heart; killing or torturing her friends and brother until she joined him. But she didn't want to join the dark side. They were the reason her parents were dead, the reason she only had her brother left in this world. If anything happened to her friends, she would kill herself, without a second thought. Lily and Kyra were the sisters she never had, they were the last living part of her family.

Cora would not be able to kill people who never did anything wrong, and bringing more unneeded suffering to world. She knew if she asked anyone what she should do, they would say not to join Voldemort, but the decision was not that easy when it was a matter of life and death. Cora pitied anyone who had to make this decision, it was easy when it was someone else, but difficult when it was you. She wished she were stronger and braver. Maybe if she had an equal spirit to Kyra or Lily she would have the power to say no to the most evil man alive, but she was just Cora. Plain ordinary Cora who just happened to have an ancient ability, besides that she wasn't any different then everyone else. She still had the same weakness and temptations. She wasn't a hero, she was Corinthia Tetherwood, a normal; teenage girl trying to live a normal life with abnormal abilities

"We're finally out of there. I thought we were going to be stuck in there forever," Lily said, as the two walked out of the maze.

"I never knew muggles could be so tricky in their maze making," James said.

"You know, you and other wizards don't give a lot of credit to muggles. They are just like you and me, but without magic. I was a muggle for eleven years," Lily said.

James just shook his head and laughed. The one thing you didn't make a comment about in front of Lily was muggles. Being a muggleborn, she was very defensive of muggles. She never stood for anyone making fun of them or even saying a rude comment against them. Of course, Lily was never one to put up with crap about anything. If she thought something was wrong, she let you know about it.

"What should we do now?" Lily asked, as they walked around the carnival.

"You want to go and get pizza or something? We skipped dinner and I don't know about you, but I am hungry," James said.

"Now that you mention it, I am hungry too," Lily said, laughing.

James was ahead of Lily, as they walked by the tent with the food in it.

"Why am I not surprised," James said to Lily, motioning toward Sirius and Kyra eating.

"Does he think of anything else beside food?" Lily said, smiling.

"Girls and getting into trouble maybe, but food is at least number three," James said, smiling. "Come on, we will get food when we are back at the castle, unless you want to eat now."

"I can wait," Lily said, as the two walked off.

"You want to see something?" James asked. Lily nodded her head. James took her hand and ran with her outside the carnival to an open field. But they didn't stop there; they kept running until they came upon a large farm. They ran to the right, inside of a large barn.

"James, we could get in so much trouble being here," Lily said, slightly pulling on James' hand.

"Don't worry about it. You worry too much," James said, smiling. "Here she is, come over here Lily."

Lily traveled over to the part of the barn where James was looking. He got out of the way and she saw a white horse with a light mane.

"An Arabian," Lily said, looking at the horse longingly. "She's beautiful. That reminds me James, how did you calm down that horse at Hogwarts?"

James smiled, "I am good with horses. We used to have three of them at home. I don't know if they are still there, someone may have sold them since my parents died."

"I thought you left school to go to the funeral?"

"I didn't want to go back to that house. I am here and I can live with them being gone, but if I go home and find them not there…it will be totally different."

"I get what you mean," Lily said, taking James hand and squeezing it.

James stared at her hand in his, "Lily."

"I'm not sure why I'm doing this," Lily said.

She then leaned in and kissed him, her 'enemy,' James Potter.

A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to get out, but I was recovering for like three days and then I had writers block every time I started to write. But I have over 4,000 words in this chapter, so the chapter is longer then usual, so the wait was worth it. I just realized that for a Lily and James fan fiction there is a lot on Cora. Sorry about that, I just like her as a character. The next chapter should be up by Friday or Saturday morning because I am going on vacation next weekend until the second, so I want to get another chapter done. The next one should take place during the winter break, unless a different idea pops into my head. I hope you like this chapter, I do.

While I was doing some of my research, I made some predictions about the sixth book. They may change based on my research, but here is what I think may be:

Petunia: was a witch, but never attended Hogwarts. She lost her power in some way. But, whatever she is, there is definitely more to her then meets the eye.

Percy Weasley: my guess is that he may be the new Minister if Magic. This probably won't happen, but it may.

Half-Blood Prince: I think it is Dumbledore. I also think Dumbledore may be Gryffinor's heir, just a guess.

Feel free to tell me your options on the matter, I like to know what other people think about these and other subjects considering HP.

Kudos for all those that reviewed:

La-Lune: Thanks

PadfootandProngs91: I can't keep a secret from you can I. J

Dangerously Non-Existent: your guesses seem to be close to the truth.

evansentranced: I would lover for you to be my beta reader. Voldemort could not use the older death eaters because they are not in school anymore. If he were to use them, Dumbledore would get suspicious.

Windowseat Wonderer

Truth

melody-dance

firefur1

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