Silver Lining
Because it's been so long since my last update, I'm going to do a quick summary of the recent chapters. Lillie was really stressed out and she performed accidental magic against Mindy Bamforth and her crew and then ran away in orphan's hollow. Teddy found her and comforted her, but because it was a full moon he transformed. Luckily he sent Lillie out before anything happened. He then went beserk and blood-thirsty when he was in wolf form and he caught a deer. When he came out of orphan's hollow Lillie found him covered in blood. She took him to the hospital wing where Madam Cunaxa ascertained that it wasn't Teddy's blood. No one has seen him since, so Lillie, Victoire and Jeremy Bilding (who is Teddy's best friend) are going to look for him using some Felix Felicis and the invisibility cloak that Lillie found in Teddy's trunk.
Chapter 24: The Hunt
Jeremy and Lillie pulled the invisibility cloak over themselves and trying to walk in time with each other. Lillie didn't open the bottle of Felix Felicis as she only wanted to use that when they eventually met up with Victoire outside the Gryffindor common room.
Lillie's plan was to get the three of them together and then share the potion equally between them. That was where her plan ended pretty much; she hoped that the Lucky Potion would be able to guide them from there though
The corridors looked slightly distorted through the folds of the cloak: it was like someone had given her a pair of glasses with twisted glass; sometimes the wall would look as though it was several feet away then when she looked back it was almost touching them. At one point Lillie even thought she saw a suit of armour with three arms. Luckily the torches were still glowing faintly and so they were able to walk down the corridors without sending any suits of armour crashing to the ground and eventually Lillie grew accustomed to her new view of the world.
Halfway to the Gryffindor dormitory, however, Jeremy and Lillie saw something that made them completely forget about Victoire, and everything else for that matter. On the floor was a large dark red pool which had gone brown around the edges. The light from the moon and from the embers in the torches glittered horribly in the crimson pool. The blood, for it obviously was blood, seemed to have come from a room on the left hand side of the corridor.
Lillie moved toward the heavy-looking oak-panelled door but Jeremy stayed stock still and the cloak slid off of her. She nearly vomited. The stench that reached her nose was worse than anything she had ever smelt before. It felt as though sickening tendrils were worming their way up her nostrils and into her throat before snaking down her gullet and seeping through her whole body clenching her lungs so that she could hardly breathe. It was the smell of death.
She stood swaying for a moment but soon Jeremy drew level with her and threw the cloak back over her. The smell of decay was gone but Lillie could still feel it on and in her and she buried her face in Jeremy's chest inhaling the smell of his sweat as though it was the sweetest flower known to man, and compared to the horrible smell of whatever lay behind the door, it was.
"Should we open it?" asked Lillie, her voice as brittle as thing glass.
"No," Jeremy soothed softly. "We don't have to open it."
"Good," she murmured, her face still pressed against his chest. She knew that she couldn't ignore it for ever but she was hoping that the longer she looked away from it the less horrible it would be when she faced it again.
"Is there another way round?" she murmured.
"Of course," he reassured her.
They stood like that for a few minutes: Lillie with her blanched face pushed against Jeremy's body and Jeremy holding her soothingly when they started hearing footsteps in the distance, echoing menacingly through the corridors accompanied with a strained and wheezy rasping. Lillie awoke from her stupor and puller the large bottle of Felix Felicis out of her robes. She took a large swig before handing the bottle to Jeremy and urgently whispering, "Drink this; I have a feeling we're going to need all the luck we can get tonight."
Jeremy also took a large swig of the golden potion and handed the bottle back to Lillie, who stoppered it and shoved it back into her pocket. Together they moved away from the vermillion lake and leaned against the wall a good ten metres away. No sooner had they done this than the footsteps came around the corner. Lillie struggled to stop herself gasping: Argus Filch, the ancient caretaker was marching a very reluctant and unhelpful Victoire down the corridor.
When they were five metres away from the blood Victoire screamed and stopped moving altogether. "What in the blazes are you…" he trailed off as he too noticed the still and sticky scarlet pool. Before anyone could do anything though, two more footsteps could be heard rushing towards them; one at either end of the corridor.
A moment later, Professor McGonagall appeared behind Filch and Victoire, dressed in a tartan dressing gown, while on their side of the gory scene Professor Stokes appeared carrying a lantern which illuminated the entire corridor and everyone was suddenly able to see with perfect clarity the horror of the scene that lay before them.
The blood pool was bigger than Lillie had originally thought and there were also a set of bright red footprints leading down the corridor in the direction that Lillie and Jeremy had come from, each step becoming fainter than the next. Lillie also saw a large curved blade, covered in blood lying not too far from the door. It seemed that she wasn't the only one, Professor Stokes moved toward the knife but he did not touch it, although he examined it closely.
"Argus," he called. "Take that girl to the hospital wing," he commanded.
"She was out of bed," Filch moaned, "and at this time of the night."
"You blundering buffoon!" cried Professor McGonagall suddenly. "Can't you see that there are slightly more pressing matters at hand? Take that girl to the hospital wing this instant. She is in shock and in serious need of care."
Filch stiffened, although with his crooked and slightly hunched back it just looked as though he was trying not to fall over. Tacitly he grabbed Victoire's arm and puller her unceremoniously from the corridor; Lillie tried to see Victoire, but the distortion made by the cloak made this surprisingly hard. From what she could see, however, she was crying. Professors Stokes, McGonagall and the two invisible children were alone in the corridor.
Lillie stood as still and silent as she could as Professor Stokes made his way hesitantly towards the door. He stopped on the edge of the blood pool which barred the way between him and his destination. "Let me get rid of that," McGonagall offered raising her wand.
"No!" cried Professor Stokes taking the headmistress (and Lillie) aback. "The blood might help us find out who did this."
"How can blood help us?" McGonagall asked arching one long thin eyebrow.
"Fingerprints or DNA from the killer might be preserved in it," he explained quickly. Lillie remembered that he had worked in law enforcement before he came to Hogwarts.
"Well that's all very well, but in that case how do you expect to find out who the victim is?" McGonagall snapped.
"Could you lift the spell that stops people apparating within the school?"
"That would take some time."
"What about a ghost; we could ask one to go see who it is for us."
McGonagall considered this for a moment before nodding in agreement. "Stay here," she commanded him. "I'll go and get one."
"Don't worry, someone's just arrived," Professor Stokes answered as the Grey Lady drifted through a nearby wall.
"My Lady?" called Professor McGonagall.
The Grey Lady turned and examined the headmistress for a few seconds before replying with a gentle, "Yes."
"I was wondering if you would mind having a look inside that room for us."
Only then did the ghost seem to notice the scene around her. She grimaced haughtily but nodded all the same. She drifted toward the closed door and passed straight through like a knife through warm butter. When she was on the other side, Lillie heard a soft, "Oh my!" The two teachers glanced at each other, McGonagall looked nervous, but Stokes looked calm, as though he had done this a thousand times before, which he probably had.
Half a minute later the Lady returned through the door. McGonagall gave her a questioning look, but did not speak. "If he wasn't a ghost, I would have said this was the work of the bloody baron," said the Grey Lady. "I could not make out many features of the poor soul's face, other than that he has an exceptionally large nose. One thing I can tell you is that he works in the department of mysteries; he was wearing the black and gold."
Since the war in 1998, all departments of the ministry of magic were supposed to wear specific coloured robes. However, over the years, people did this less and less. But in the department of mysteries, everyone still wore black robes with golden thread forming thin tendrils across it.
"That sounds an awful lot like Bradley," Professor McGonagall intoned worriedly.
"Isn't he supposed to be looking after-,"
"Ted Lupin, yes. Do you think he did this Nick?"
The Grey Lady spoke up here, "Headmistress, am I right in assuming that Teddy Lupin is the werewolf?" Lillie felt Jeremy move beside her, but she didn't dare to move to see what he was doing because Professor Stokes head had turned in their direction.
Professor McGonagall nodded stiffly. "Well if you look outside, it is not the full moon, and those wounds could not have been inflicted by a child," the Grey Lady explained.
"Anyway, isn't he supposed to be in the department of mysteries?" asked Professor Stokes.
"A lot of things are supposed to happen, Nick, that doesn't mean that they do," retorted Professor McGonagall. "Now I want you to go to the ministry, and find out what has happened to the boy. I will see to it that no student comes near here until all this has been sorted out." She strode off in the direction that she had come and a second later Professor Stokes also turned and started walking in the opposite direction. Lillie made a move to follow him but Jeremy did not budge and so she stopped because she didn't what to leave the cover of the cloak.
As soon as the professor had rounded the corner, she urgently whispered, "Come on!"
Jeremy looked at her dumbfounded. "Lillie, did you hear what they said?" he asked incredulously.
"Of course I did! I was right here," she snapped at him. Why was he wasting so much time? "Why? What's wrong?"
"He's a werewolf," Jeremy explained and Lillie realised that Teddy must never have told Jeremy about his condition and so Jeremy must be very confused or scared just then.
"So?"
"He's a werewolf," repeated Jeremy stupidly.
"That doesn't mean he's not Teddy!" cried Lillie quietly. "He is still our friend and he's not even a full werewolf; trust me, I've seen him at the full moon. I've had a conversation with him after he had transformed."
"But he might have changed. Why else would they have taken him to the department of mysteries?"
"You've slept in the same room for three and a half years. Don't you think he would have attacked you already if he was dangerous?"
"You have a point," conceded Jeremy and then reluctantly, "Okay, let's go."
As they moved away from their spot of wall, Lillie once again looked at the blade. It was disturbingly familiar. "Hold on," she said to Jeremy and pulled them over to have a closer look. It had an ebony handle and upon closer inspection Lillie saw that there was a smaller and jagged blade sticking out halfway up the spine of the blade. The second blade was almost invisible, and the only reason Lillie had noticed it was because she knew it was there. She knew what knife this was.
Lillie shrieked.
It couldn't be. He wouldn't have left it here. She threw the invisibility cloak off her and sprinted down the corridor Jeremy calling after her. When she reached the end of the corridor she collided with Professor Stokes who had obviously run back when he had heard Lillie's scream. Lillie was sent sprawling and she hit the ground hard. Professor Stokes dropped down next to her.
"Lillie? Can you hear me? Are you okay?" he asked.
Lillie groaned. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Professor Stokes noticed Jeremy and he demanded, "What the hell were you two doing here?"
"We were looking for Teddy Lupin," he explained quickly. "We found the blood and were thinking about what to do when Filch arrived. He couldn't see us because we were using an invisibility cloak." He was speaking very quickly. "When you left, Lillie went to have a look at that knife and she sort of freaked out."
To her amazement (no doubt the lucky potion had something to do with it) Professor Stokes nodded thoughtfully. "What happened, Lillie? What do you know?" he asked.
"I know who did it," Lillie burst out. "The knife, it belongs to Ezekielis Bamforth."
"How do you know?"
Lillie looked into Professor Stokes' dark brown eyes and said as calmly as she could, "I know, because he used that knife to torture me for three days while I was being kept locked away in a tower."
Lillie felt sick to her stomach. There was so much blood! Had there been that much up in the tower? She couldn't remember. She didn't want to remember. She had to push those thoughts away and concentrate on the present. That was months ago.
There was a moment's silence but then Professor Stokes regained his composure. "Mr Marlon, I ask you to return to your dormitory immediately. Go to bed and do not speak of this to anyone; at least not until we have returned and the matter is resolved," he told Jeremy.
"We?" Lillie asked, somewhere between hopeful and terrified.
"Hold on," he waved Lillie down. "Jeremy, go now!" he ordered using a voice that showed clearly that there was no point in arguing. Reluctantly Jeremy turned and walked down the corridor. When he was out of sight and presumably out of earshot Professor Stokes crouched down slightly, and he looked at Lillie in a concerned fashion. "Are you okay? I heard about what that man did to you. Hell I saw what happened a few weeks ago."
"I'm fine," Lillie lied but Professor Stokes saw straight through her.
"Lillie," he said gravely, "I can't honestly say I know what you're going through, but I've seen hundreds of other people go through the same or similar. I'm not a shrink, but I do know that it helps to talk. So be honest with me, and tell me how you're feeling."
"Afraid. I'm more afraid than I have been a long time. I'm tired and confused too, but to be honest with you, I'm more worried about Teddy than about any of that."
"You're just a kid. It's okay to be scared; you of all people have the right to be. I know it's scary but-,"
Lillie cut him off. "I may only be thirteen," said Lillie, "but certain… events have cause me to be more mature than most people my age. You don't have to go out of your way to be nice to me. Honestly, I find it infuriating the way some people treat me as though I'm a poor wounded lamb. I don't want pity, it just makes things worse."
Professor Stokes raised his eyebrows slightly but a second later he nodded. "Well then Miss Whitehead, I'm going to need your help, if you're willing that is."
"I am."
"Good. You know Lupin better than most people, so if he has escaped you might help us find him and if he hasn't… well I'm sure he would be more than happy to see you."
"Why ask me?" Lillie asked him. "Jeremy knows him as well as I do, if not better, so does Victoire. And then there's always Harry Potter or Andromeda Tonks."
"I hadn't planned on asking anyone until I knew for sure what had happened to the boy. But you know about this Bamforth person too and besides, if he managed to get into the castle, odds are he's still here somewhere. And if he's in the castle he's probably looking for you so I couldn't leave you alone could I?"
At his words Lillie started to panic, but she forced herself to stay calm. "But surely in that case, everyone in Ravenclaw is in danger," her voice shook and cracked betraying her true emotions. She thought of Jenny and her father, then of Gill, Parvati and the other girls. She thought of Chris, Dan, Jeremy, and all the others.
Professor Stokes frowned for a moment and then pulled out his wand. "Expecto Patronum!" he cried and a large silver-white wolf erupted from his wand.
"What was that for?" Lillie asked as she watched the wolf bound down the corridor brightening the corridor and its shape burning itself onto her eyes so that when she blinked she could still see it.
"It's a message, it will warn Professor Flitwick and some of the others as well," he said. "Now come on we need to get to the ministry." He raised his wand and a bright colourless light emerged from it guiding their steps.
He led the way down the corridor, Lillie hot on his heels. When they reached they turned right towards the stairs.
…
Jeremy reached the end of the corridor and turned right towards the Ravenclaw common room. He still had the invisibility cloak tucked under his arm and he thought he should probably put it on in case he ran into anyone else.
A few corridors later he heard a strange noise behind him and when he turned around he say a large white wolf running his way. It had a strange silver glow about it that mesmerised Jeremy. He realised that it wouldn't be able to see him but he was rooted to the spot and it was coming right for him. He closed his eyes bracing himself for the impact, but it never came. He opened his eyes again and saw that the wolf had gone beyond him and was now running away from him. He made a mental note to thank Lillie later for the lucky potion.
He leaned against a door for half a second, but then spotted something shiny a few feet away. He moved away from the door to have a closer look; it was a large golden galleon. He picked it up and pocketed it.
Suddenly the door he had been leaning on a few moments previously burst open and two people emerged: a Slytherin girl Jeremy vaguely recognised from the year below and an obscenely thin man, with yellow skin sagging off his skeletal face and his hair looked wet with grease. He vaguely recognised the man from somewhere. A newspaper article he had read a while ago. It had been quite a big story, a very big story. The article had had something to do with a girl, no two girls, who had been captured and imprisoned. Jeremy had to stifle a cry; this was none other than Ezekielis Bamforth and the girl must be Mindy Bamforth.
"Mindy, go back to your dormitory, I will sort them out myself," he said.
"But dad-," she started in a plaintive tone.
Ezekielis slapped her. "Now!" he hissed.
Mindy nodded solemnly and headed away from the man. Jeremy knew what he had to do. He started to move back the way he had come, hoping against hope that Ezekielis would not hear his footsteps. Luckily he was wearing nothing but socks on his feet so the noise was minimal. When Ezekielis went back into the room, Jeremy stopped to memorise where it was: opposite the three-armed suit of armour. "Don't move," he whispered and to his surprise the suit turned its head and nodded. It must have been oiled recently because it didn't creak or squeak at all.
Jeremy broke into a run and it was not long before he reached the corridor of blood, but Lillie and Professor Stokes were not there. He continued towards the stairs, he was on the top floor so he didn't have to decide whether to go up or down.
He took the stairs five at a time, but he knew he wouldn't fall; Felix would make sure of that. Soon he heard voices and he followed them. At the third floor he stopped and looked down the corridor, just in time to see one small figure and one much larger one disappear around the corner.
"Lillie!" he called. "Professor Stokes!"
A second later they hurried back around the corner. "Who's there?" called Professor Stokes stepping forward and putting an arm in front of Lillie.
Jeremy pulled the cloak off and it was only then that he realised how out of breath he was. It was not long before Professor Stokes was at his side Lillie running down the corridor behind him.
"What is it? What's happened?" he asked in a voice that made Jeremy feel safe.
"I found Ezekielis Bamforth." Jeremy saw Lillie's eyes widen in panic but she remained silent.
"Where?" demanded the Transfiguration teacher, urgency in his voice.
"He was in the room opposite the three-armed guy."
"What three-armed guy?"
"Suit of armour with three arms," Jeremy explained; he had a horrible stitch, but it seemed to be receding quickly.
Lillie spoke up. "I know the one he means. We passed it on our way to… I thought I only imagined, things look a bit twisted through the cloak."
"Lead on," Professor Stokes instructed her and the girl started to climb back up the staircase followed swiftly by the man and the boy a bit further behind.
By the time they reached the top again Lillie was out of breath and Jeremy was positively heaving, but both forced themselves to keep going and they hurried along the corridors. Jeremy had soon recovered slightly and ass they were about to round the final corner when Jeremy grabbed both of them. Professor Stokes gave him a questioning look but remained completely silent and Jeremy held up the invisibility cloak in response. Professor Stokes nodded and took the cloak from Jeremy.
Lillie and Jeremy moved towards him so that all three would fit under the cloak but he stopped them. "I'm doing this alone," he said to them, so quietly that Lillie almost had to lip read. Lillie opened her mouth in protest but Professor Stokes gave her a look that quelled any resistance. However, just before he disappeared under the cloak Lillie handed him the bottle of Felix Felicis. There was less than a third left, but Professor Stokes seemed to know what it was and he gulped it down quickly and the bottle he handed back was empty of any golden liquid.
A second later the Transfiguration teacher was invisible and Jeremy and Lillie were looking at the spot where he had vanished. Lillie grimly thought back a bit: to when they had been the invisible ones and Professor Stokes in plain sight. She wished then that they could have the invisibility cloak back; what if Ezekielis wasn't in the room anymore? Lillie was suddenly scared. She took a half-step to her left so that she was brushing up against Jeremy and he wrapped an arm around her, which made her feel slightly more secure.
As Lillie could not see Professor Stokes, she had to try and follow him using her ears. But his footsteps were so quiet that Lillie could only hear one in every three or four.
Jeremy pointed at the door and Lillie looked trying to see what Jeremy had. It did not take her long: the doorknob was slowly and silently turning. When it gave a click Lillie nearly screamed. The doorknob had stopped moving now and Professor Stokes was obviously waiting to see if whoever was inside had heard the click. If they hadn't heard the click then surely they would be able to hear Lillie's heart pounding away somewhere between her tongue and tonsils.
They waited for what seemed like years, and then slowly, so very, very slowly, Professor Stokes began to push the door open. When the door was open an inch or so he stopped and Lillie knew he must be peering inside, he obviously couldn't see much as he then opened the door rapidly, stopping it just before it collided with the wall.
Lillie heard an intake of breath and wanted to go see what had caused it, but something else had caught her attention: another sound coming from behind her; footsteps. Soft and deliberate, but coming nearer all the time. She spun around quickly throwing Jeremy's arm off her as she did so and this time she really did scream.
He had gone back to get the knife, which was now grasped in his right hand. "Well, well, well," he said, his voice like curdled milk, which had festered, putrefied and been stored in a warm environment. "If it isn't little Lillie. How are you? Did you miss me?" All Lillie could do was shake her head as she stared at the blade in her hand.
Then lots of things seemed to happen in very rapid, at the time Lillie could not believe how it had happened but looking back on it she realised it would have been down to the empty bottle in her pocket. The first thing that Lillie noticed was a cat coming around the corner, meowing loudly. Ezekielis turned to see what was making the noise and stumbled slightly as he did so. This must have unbalanced him and his arms were now flailing about. While all this was happening, Professor Stokes had pulled the cloak off and aimed a silent curse at the man.
In one of his attempts to regain balance, Ezekielis swung the knife too close to his own face and he yelled out as his ear detached itself from the rest of his body. At the exact same moment Professor Stokes' spell hit him in the back of the head. The combined force of these two injuries brought him down and Lillie was surprised when Jeremy pointed his wand at the supine figure and called, "Incarcerous."
However, what drew Lillie's attention more than anything else was the red steel on the floor. Except it wasn't entirely red anymore. The section of steel where it had come into contact with Ezekielis had turned black. As Lillie watched, the black spread like bacteria until there was no trace of scarlet left and a second later, small chunks started falling off turning into the colour of ash and smouldering gently on the floor. Soon all that was left was a small pile of grey ash and a horrible, pressing silence, interrupted every now and then by the low unconscious moans that Ezekielis was giving off.
The cat had gone but Professor McGonagall seemed to have come out of nowhere while everything had been going on. "Is everyone alright?" she asked in a voice kinder than anything Lillie would have thought possible from the stern headmistress.
Slowly Jeremy and Lillie nodded.
"Well then may I suggest that you two go back to bed?"
"Perhaps the hospital wing would be more appropriate, Minerva," Professor Stokes chipped in moving behind the two pupils and placing a large comforting hand on Lillie's should and another on Jeremy's. There was a very grave note in his voice and Lillie suddenly remembered his reaction when he had opened the door.
"Yes of course. Jeremy, Lillie, you should go to the hospital wing," McGonagall agreed.
Neither of them moved. "What was in that room?" Lillie asked quietly.
"Nothing," Professor Stokes said quickly, but Lillie knew he was lying.
"What happened to Teddy?" she asked, a little more loudly.
"I don't know," he answered and Lillie could hear the stress in his voice. "Come on, you need to go to the hospital wing."
"There's nothing wrong with me! What's happened to Teddy?"
"Lillie," Professor Stokes said warningly.
Lillie sighed, took a deep breath and ducked under Professor Stokes' arm and ran to the open door. She swallowed and looked away; Filch's body was on the floor. Lillie had seen Filch earlier that night with, "Vicky!" Lillie cried.
"Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. Victoire's alright," he crooned soothingly, moving towards her, but every step he took forward Lillie countered with another step backwards and eventually he stopped moving.
"Where is she?" Lillie asked.
"Lillie! Jeremy! Go to the hospital wing immediately," ordered Professor McGonagall.
"Lillie," Jeremy said reluctantly. "We'd better go; we're not going to find Teddy, and anyway, I think we've been through enough tonight."
Lillie laughed. "I've been through worse. I've been through worse than him!" she pointed at Ezekielis, still unconscious and bound on the floor.
"I'm going," he said flatly. "I'm sorry, but I…" he sighed. "I can't handle this. Were you really thinking of going to the department of mysteries? Lillie, you're only 13."
"I was seriously thinking about it and I still am," she replied coolly. And she was off again, she ran as fast as she could away from the group.
She heard footsteps behind her and knew that Professor Stokes would be following her. She didn't even know where she was going; she just ran and ran, jumping through every secret passage she found. At one point, she saw Fred and George junior. "Hello Lillie," they called in unison.
"Stop him," Lillie called breathlessly to them.
"What else would we do," said George with a wicked grin.
Lillie had no idea what the twins did, but it must have done something because there was a temporary break and the pursuing footsteps.
She, however, kept running until she found herself in a room that was full of cupboards she jumped into a random one and hoped that when Professor Stokes entered the room he would ran straight through.
But his luck was stronger than hers and he stopped as soon as he entered the room. "Lillie," he called. "I know you're in here. Please just come out. I won't hurt you. I want to talk with you; I know you don't want to talk, but you can't always get what you want." Lillie did not move a muscle. "Are you going to force me to search every closet?" Again Lillie didn't say anything and she heard his sigh. "Hominum revelio," he said tonelessly.
Lillie felt an odd sensation, as though she was in the shadow of something large that was swooping low over her. She knew then, that he knew exactly where she was, yet still she didn't move.
She heard him coming towards her and soon the cupboard doors were being opened. "Hello Lillie."
"I'm a broom," she muttered, her voice sad, quiet and frail.
Professor Stokes chuckled. "Well I'm not really in the mood for flying," he joked but Lillie didn't smile. She wasn't angry anymore; she had used up her anger and her fight and now was left feeling empty and hopeless. "Come out of the cupboard Lillie," he urged her gently. And she did as he asked.
There was a bench next to the cupboard and Professor Stokes sat Lillie down on it before sitting down beside her. He put one strong arm around her shoulders and she sank into it. Soon she was crying, letting the tears that had been threatening to consume her for weeks finally come through. Lillie wasn't sure what she was crying about: Teddy, Victoire, both, neither, herself, her family, Jenny and the list went on.
Then Professor Stokes was on his feet looking at the door that they had come through, it was opening.
The person who stepped through the door was a girl with long blonde hair. "Victoire," Lillie breathed, relief coursing through her body. She hurried to the blonde girl and the two fell into each other's arms. A few seconds later, they broke apart and Victoire asked, "Did you find Teddy?" She sounded exhausted and a little bit scared; her voice was slightly hoarse as well.
"Kind of," Lillie said and Victoire looked at her with a worried expression.
Professor Stokes stepped forward. "He's supposed to be at the ministry of magic, but his guard was killed, so we're not sure if he's still there. I'm about to go there now. If you two go to the hospital wing, I'll tell you everything when I…" he trailed off. The door at the other end of the room was opening now, it was large and dark; Lillie had never seen it before. Professor Stokes gripped his wand firmly and tensed, ready to pounce. The door creaked open slowly as though whoever was pushing it was having some trouble with it.
Then a thin and pitiable figure fell through once the gap was about a foot wide. The figure lay on the floor for a moment and Professor Stokes began to move towards it. He, for he looked like a boy to Lillie, was quite tall with limp golden hair which had faded to the colour of old straw.
The Transfiguration teacher crouched down beside him blocking him from view. He seemed to pick the boy up and then he turned to face the two anxious girls. "I won't be going to the ministry after all. Teddy's right here."
A/N:
I know this chapter has taken me far too long. But I tried so hard for this one and I'm still not happy with it. I wrote and re-wrote the first 500 words or so about 15 times before giving up. And for that I would like to thank BananaLollypop and Zheeba89 for helping me get back on track and to give it another go. It's nearly four in the morning here and I am exhausted. But I'm sure you'll all be glad to know that in all the nights that I have stayed up trying (and failing horribly) to write this chapter I have come up with some stuff for the future. I have something big planned for the end of Lillie's fifth year and something else that I haven't decided where I'm going to put it. So in the end a happy ending to a grim chapter I hope you don't mind. Please review. I'm so tired and it makes me so happy when people review and I know I've said this before and not, but the next chapter will be up far sooner and if it isn't, I will delete the fic, or pass it on to some more capable hands.
Please review! And if you get bored before my next chapter is up, how about checking out the two oneshots that I've written.
Goodbye: s/7172197/1/Goodbye
Recovery: s/8233495/1/Recovery
I also think you should check out Zheeba89's first attempt at writing. It's a oneshot from the Danish series The Shamer's Daughter and is really good. It doesn't matter if you haven't heard of the series before; it's a good fic and I know that she would appreciate it.
Oh yeah and now that I've written such a long author's note I can finally celebrate reaching 90000 words!
WTCST