Disclaimer: Not world blah blah bah, JK Rowling blah wonderful woman blah blah.
Little Lily
The Final Chapter
Chapter Twenty-Five: Taken
"Lunaaaa!" Lily laughed, jumping down the girls' stairs into the Ravenclaw Common Room, her arms laden with a box bigger than her head and twice as tall. "Luna! Lookit what Gramma's sent us!" She hurried over to where Luna was sitting in the middle of the room with Cammie and Eden. All three other first year girls looked up from their homework. Lily dropped the box on top of the middle of the table and dug into it, extracting a very prettily decorated chocolate egg and offering it to Luna.
"Oh! Great! I love these things." Luna seemed quite pleased as she took her egg and then stood up on tip toe to peer into the box. "I take it Xavier gets one as well then?"
"Yes." Lily grinned, pulling out her own egg and unwrapping it.
The Easter holidays had begun a few days ago and though the first years had been expecting a little break from work, they had been gravely mistaken. If anything, the teachers had doubled the workload they were to be doing during their week without classes. Most students had decided to stay at the school during the holiday, especially the Ravenclaws. They needed to study. Exams were only a month and a half away and if anyone wanted to pass, they had to work extra hard. Having never taken exams before, the first year Ravenclaws were pawing through their year's notes most of the time and wondering what could possibly be on the test.
Xavier had gone crazy. He could usually be found in the corner of the common room or in a secluded spot in the library, reading his way through their school books. He was even reading the chapters they hadn't even gotten to in class yet. Any time anyone interrupted his studying, he would snap at them and build his tower of books higher in front of himself.
Lily lifted Xavier's egg out of the box and wandered over to the corner where he was currently reading their Herbology book and muttering something about derkins. Pushing the two towers of books away so that she could get to him, Lily climbed up onto the table and set the egg down on top of Xavier's open book. He paused in his muttering and looked up. "Oh.. it's you." He blinked and lifted the egg from his page.
"Gramma sent us all chocolate eggs. Isn't it pretty?" Lily grinned, swinging her legs over the edge of the table.
"That was nice of her, but I really haven't got any time to… What're you doing?"
Lily had lifted herself up from the table with her arms and rested her bottom right on top of Xavier's Herbology book. She dropped her feet into his lap and shook her head. "You've been at it nearly all week. Classes start back up tomorrow."
"Which is exactly why I need this time to continue studying, now get off." Xavier stated in frustration, but Lily kept herself firm.
"No. What we all need is a little bit of a break. We've been studying all week and this was supposed to be a bit of a vacation from work. All your homework is done, isn't it?"
"Yes. I finished it Wednesday, but…"
"No. Get up. We're going outside. It's nice out." Lily pointed to the nearby window where the world had gone from being muddy and gross to wonderful and springy. The snow had melted completely and the flowers were just beginning to sprout out of the ground. The sun was shining and there was a nice breeze blowing across the grounds. Even the giant squid had come up from the depths of the lake to bask in the sunshine. "Up I said!"
Sliding her legs off of Xavier's lap, Lily slid off of the table and onto the floor. She grabbed hold of the back of Xavier's chair and began dragging it across the carpet towards the door. "Luna! C'mon!"
"I need to…" Luna started, looking down at her blotchy Transfiguration essay. It was finished, but she still had a bit of revising to do. But then again, they didn't have Transfiguration until Tuesday. "Aw, sod it." She got up from her seat as well and went after Lily.
Xavier dug his heels into the carpet, obviously wanting to stay, but also not wanting to fall out of his precariously tipped chair. Luna grabbed the other side of it and together, she and Lily dragged the boy out the door and onto the landing just outside of the common room. Lily closed the door and let the chair go.
As soon as he was righted, Xavier stood up and made to knock on the door, but then Lily held up her bag. "I've got Gobstones." An so Xavier was won over.
They got all the way down to the third floor before they ran into Peeves. He spotted them almost as soon as they got off of the staircase. "Ickle firsties! Ickle firsties not studying? Naughty naughty ickle firsties, Peevesy should punish them, he should."
"Leave us alone, Peeves." Lily sighed as she started down the corridor. But of course, telling Peeves to do something just made him want to do the opposite all the more.
"Peevesy knows just how to punish the ickle firsties!" Peeves swooped down lower and began pegging bits of dried ink at them. The three first years took looks at one another, and bolted, pulling the tops of their robes up over the backs of their heads.
"Peeves! Cut it out!" Luna hollered back at him, turning to look at him as she ran. She got an ink pellet right between the eyes. She ran faster.
Down to the second floor, and then the first, and finally to the Entrance hall where they bolted through the wide open great oak doors onto the grounds. Peeves stopped at the door, having spotted a couple of kissing seventh years. Happy to be out in the sun after a week indoors studying, the three firsties traipsed down the lawn towards the lake, full intending on relaxing a bit.
….
"Gotcha! That's a point for me." Lily grinned widely as she knocked one of Xavier's Gobstones out of their circle. She beamed happily, collecting it and her snitch Snapper. Xavier grinned back at her and shot his own Snapper at the circle.
"Yeah, but I'm still three ahead of you, nope, wait, make that four." Lily laughed and snatched up his Gobstones before he could.
"Nope!" She rose to her feet and bolted across the grassy lawn. Luna had her back against the weeping willow they'd taken to hanging out under, Lily liking the way the tendrils shielded them away from the rest of the world. It was a kind of awesome clubhouse made of tree. Luna was content to watch the game of Gobstones rather than play, though she was also reading a book called 'Flying with the Cannons' which looked to be even older than one of their honorary cousins, Teddy Lupin, whom Lily hadn't met yet. She'd heard he was out of school though, and that he seemed to have a thing for Caprice. Harry had written her a week or so ago to tell her about Teddy and how he was technically her godbrother. Teddy, it seemed, had forgiven his godfather's absence in an understanding manner, his nature quite like his father's.
"Oi! Just because you take them doesn't mean you get the point!" Xavier laughed, chasing after Lily. The circled the tree until he tackled her down by the legs and managed to wrestle one of the Gobstones away from her vice-like grip.
"New rule! New rule!" Lily giggled, rolling over and trying to protect the second Gobstone. "Whomever catches the stone first, gets the point!"
"You can't make up new rules!" Xavier scolded, wedging his hand under her arms to tickled her sides, causing her to flail with peals of laughter.
"I didn't know Gobstones was a contact sport." A cold voice spat at them and they all looked up to find that Zabini girl they disliked so much glaring down at them. She had her arms crossed and her sides were flanked by two other Slytherin first years, both of them sneering boys.
"Bugger off." Luna looked up from her book, glaring at the Slytherins.
"We don't have to. This is an ideal place to hang out, and we want it."
"You can't have it. Find your own place." Lily stuck her tongue out, rising to her feet as the other two id the same.
"Well then, I suppose we'll just have to take these instead." The boys stepped forward and stomped on Xavier's Gobstones board and started scooping up the stones and shoving them into their pockets.
"Hey! Those are our's, you can't just take them!" Xavier shot forward, landing a blow on one of the boy's shoulders. The boy turned his head, lifted his arm, and then promptly pummeled Xavier in the cheek. The smaller boy faltered for a second, and then feel quite harshly to the ground. Luna shouted out in anger, drawing her wand as she got up from where she was reading.
"Oi! That's enough! We haven't done anything to you, so leave us alone."
"Oooo, we're so scared." Zabini shivered mockingly and then bent down, taking up Lily's special Snapper. "Gobstones is such a little kid's game, but then, I shouldn't be so surprised to find you playing it, Carpenter. Tell me, how much did your family have to pay the Headmistress in order to get rid of you early?"
"What?" Lily asked, completely confused at this question.
"You heard me. How much? You can't be more than eight with how small you are."
"I am not eight! I'm eleven, just like you, though you don't act it. Running around, ruining everyone's day just for the fun of it."
"At least I'm not playing baby games with a pair of blood traitors, but then, you wouldn't know anything about blood, would you Mudblood?"
"You shut your mouth!" Xavier shouted, drawing his own wand as Zabini's two friends drew their's.
"I really can't believe you stooped down to their level, Malfoy, but I guess you haven't got as much sense as the rest of your family. Just wait, the time will come when wizards and witches are treated better than the Muggles and Mudbloods. Purebloods will be held in the highest of honor."
"They already tried that during the second war. In case you haven't noticed, it didn't work out for those supporting Voldemort."
"The Dark Lord was the greatest wizard to ever live!"
"Albus Dumbledore was the greatest wizard to ever live! And Harry Potter is a close second!" Luna proclaimed.
"Harry Potter only cared about himself. And both of them were defeated by the Dark Lord."
"HARRY POTTER IS THE GREATEST PERSON ALIVE!" Lily shouted angrily, her arms flying out as she did so. She shoved Zabini to the ground so fast the other girl had no idea what was going on until it happened.
"ARGH!" Zabini pushed herself up, brushing off the front of her skirt. She looked down. "You got my stockings all grass stained, Mudblood!"
"I'm not even Muggleborn you idiot." Lily glared at her. "But I've got nothing against Muggleborns. I'd be proud to be one if I was one. They're blood's purer than anyone else's. It's undiluted magic."
"Everyone says you're a Mudblood! Don't deny it." Zabini spat at her.
"My father is a wizard."
"You don't even know who your father is."
"I do so know who he is! He's Harry Potter!"
It took a few moments for Zabini and her friends to register the words that had erupted from Lily's mouth, but when they did, they all fell to the ground in hysterics. "H-Harry Potter? You're crazy. Harry Potter is dead! You're a Mudblood, I knew it!"
"She's not lying." Xavier was now bent over, gathering the Gobstones the Slytherins had dropped when Lily had pushed Zabini.
"She is. Just because she resembles him slightly, she's made him up to be her father, because she doesn't even know who her parents are. She wasn't wanted."
"He's not dead and he does so want her." Luna grabbed Lily around the shoulders, hugging her in reassurance, but Lily shrugged her off.
"All of you are morons! Harry Potter is dead. He died because he was a wimpy little…"
"He is not a wimp!" Lily and Zabini went tumbling to the ground, the latter landing roughly as the punches of small fists met her face.
"Get off me! Get off me!
"Carpenter! " Madam Hooch was striding across the lawn towards them. She grabbed the back of Lily's robes and hauled her, kicking and shouting obscenities at Zabini, off of the Slytherin girl. "What do you think you're doing?"
"She insulted Lily's father, ma'am." Xavier sighed, folding up his beloved Gobstones circle board and pocketing it. He had saved the most important ones.
"Nevertheless, you are all old enough to know better than to resort to violence instead of telling a teacher. Carpenter, I'm going to have to give you a detention and five points off Ravenclaw for attacking another student."
"Make it ten, Professor." Zabini held up her arm, revealing a large red circle. "She bit me as well."
"You… you bit her?" Madam Hooch stared down at Lily in shock. Lily's face went red, but she stared back up at her defiantly. So what if she had bitten Zabini? She deserved it. Madam Hooch sighed. "I don't know what I'm going to do with you. Honestly, your father was never this much trouble. Except for that one year… but we had Umbridge then…"
"Umbridge was a wonderful woman, or so I've heard." Zabini chided in, beaming brightly,
"Umbridge was a…er… well… she was a…. nevermind. Just separate yourselves. You three, find another place to play." She pointed at Lily, Luna, and Xavier. On the outburst of protest the three Ravenclaws shouted at her, she waved her hand. "I don't care who was here first! Clear off! And I don't want to find you fighting again, or I will alert your Heads of Houses, is that clear!"
"Yes'm." Lily sighed. She, Luna, and Xavier gathered the rest of their things and wandered away from the magnificent willow tree, leaving the Slytherins with smug looks of triumph on their faces.
"It's not fair at all." Luna scuffed her foot against the ground as they continued down the sloping lawn, past Hagrid's hut and continuing further than they had ever done before. "Did you really bite her, Lily?"
"Yup. She tasted rotten too." Lily made as face, causing the other two to laugh. They kept walking until they came to the end of the path. Here there was the large metal gate that normally closed tightly and sealed with magic, but today it was wide open, inviting…
"I think this is as far as we can go… It's a Hogsmeade weekend, but we're not old enough to go…" Luna peered down the road that led into the village. "We should go back."
"Nah, let's stay down here. I doubt anyone'll come bother us this far from the castle." Lily flopped down on the grass beside the path and leaned up against one of the stone pillars on either side of the gate. "So long as we don't actually go through the gate, we can't get in trouble."
"I can't help feeling like we shouldn't be here though." Luna shook her head. "Let's go…"
"Oh c'mon, Luna, this place is as good as any." Xavier tugged his Gobstones board out and spread it out on the grass beside Lily.
"Well… alright then. But if we get in trouble, it's on your head." Luna shrugged and leaned up against the other pillar, pulling her book back out of her bag and propping it open on her knees. Unlike her mother, she was much easier to get into doing things she was wary of.
"I'm going to beat you this time, Xavier." Lily laughed, reaching to pull her Snapper out of her pocket. She paused, turning her head towards the open gate. "Did you guys see something?"
"Hmmm?" Luna looked up from her book and peered out down the path between the pillars and Xavier looked up from his chest of Gobstones.
"I could have sworn I saw something more… just there… by that tree." Lily pointed towards the tree, the hair on the back of er neck rising. She wasn't one to get scared so easily, but something wasn't right here. Luna had felt it… and now Lily was feeling it. "Maybe we should head back up to the…"
The world suddenly lit up orange as the tree exploded. A dark figure laughed as the three first years fell to the ground to avoid being hit with shards of falling tree. Lily screamed as she felt something wrap about her waist.
"I've got her! I've finally got her! Let's get out of here, hurry! Before he shows up!"
"What about the witnesses?"
"Modify their memories, or better yet, kill them."
"Lily!" Luna shouted as she got up off the ground, closely followed by Xavier who immediately ran at the man who had Lily.
"Luna! Get help! Hurry! Lily!" Xavier jumped upon the man's back but was quickly thrown off.
"Xavier!" Lily yelped as she was stabbed in the side with the man's wand.
"Stupify!" The little girl fell limp and Xavier screamed. He ran at the man again, receiving a hard blow to the back of his head and falling to the ground.
"Lily! Lily!" A man's voice came from down the path quickly followed by the sounds of apparation. Harry ran for the man, unable to shoot spells at him out of fear of hitting his daughter with something harsh.
"She's mine now. Say goodbye to your little girl." The man laughed and spun on his heel, disapparating right there. Harry stood in place, his eyes wide with shock as he fell to his knees. How could this have happened?
Oh yes, I know I'm evil, but it was time. Don't worry though, there will be a part two. This one didn't come out as well as I hoped, but here it is anyway! Look for Little Lily: The Second Year coming soon to a near you! As in, within the next week or so.
Love y'all!
S.Q.O.