Chapter 31.5 Shanjavi
The grass between her toes was so soft and warm, and there was nothing she wanted to do except just lay back in the sunshine and relax. She would have been more than happy to take a nap on the little hillside overlooking the big, huge ocean that spread out in front of her, but that probably wasn't going to happen. Was it even possible to take a nap while dreaming? Lily rather doubted it.
There was a rustle and the sound of something slithering behind her, and Lily tried her best not to sigh. That would be Oxalion of course, coming to lecture her about something or other. Could he give her just a few minutes to enjoy the amazing view of this particular dream and the wonderful feeling of the grass between her toes? Of course he couldn't. Complain, complain, complain, that was all the snake ghost ever did. She'd thought he was a rather interesting ghost when she'd first met him. Now she knew better.
"Greetings, hatchling," Oxalion hisses as he slithered around from behind her and into view. He sounded almost… happy. Odd, Lily thought to herself, sitting up curiously. She gave the snake a puzzled look, wondering if he was actually happy. Lily couldn't tell, since snakes didn't exactly smile. Oxalion might be happy, or he might just be hungry. Hard to say.
"You have done well," Oxalion continued, bobbing his scaly head up and down. "All hope is not yet lost."
Lily frowned, not really feeling much better. She knew there had to have been a better way to phrase that. Maybe good job or hurray for Lily. But no, it had to be all hope is not yet lost, as if it were about to be lost any second.
"So did I manage to prevent the world from being all burned up?" Lily asked, hoping desperately that it was over.
"No, that future still exists, and it is rapidly approaching," Oxalion said, very matter-of-factly. "But your actions, and the actions of those you shared your vision with, have also kept open the path to the future where the disaster is prevented. Well done, hatchling."
Lily felt maybe a teensy bit better, but not really. It didn't seem like she ought to be congratulated for not dooming the world… yet. Team Nargle was aiming it's a goals a little higher, as in saving the day and all that.
"I don't know what else I can do, since I can't talk to any of the others," Lily pouted, hoping that Oxalion would make her feel better somehow. She was still in trouble for sneaking into Hogwarts, and she hadn't seen Evey in weeks. Daddy had finally let her go back and help out at Auntie Luna's day-care, but Evey hadn't been there. How could Team Nargle possibly do its mission when they couldn't see or talk to each other?
"You have a role to play yet, hatchling," Oxalion said cryptically.
"Hang on," Lily said, eyes narrowing in suspicion, "how can you be so sure? You told me that you couldn't see what was going to happen next. You said I had to decide what to do on my own!"
"Indeed I did," Oxalion said, looking maddeningly smug. Stupid smuggy snake. "Thankfully, however, your actions so far have clarified the future for me. I can predict with some certainty what ought to be done to prevent the coming disaster. The road will not be an easy one, but I have faith that you will be able to fulfil your role when the time is right, hatchling."
"Role? What role?" Lily asked, eyes wide. Did Oxalion really know what she had to do?
"It will all be made clear, in time," Oxalion said, obviously choosing to be deliberately unhelpful.
"You're not going to tell me!?" Lily raged, unable to believe it.
"No, for that would not be the best decision at this time," the snake said softly. "You must wait for the right time, and then all will be explained. There is much that I have to prepare, and things are moving quickly. When your moment comes, you will be told what to do. Just be ready for when I call for you."
Lily opened her mouth to yell that Oxalion was being incredibly unfair, but she never had the chance. The world gave a mighty lurch, and the beautiful coastline of her dream world dissolved into nothing.
She woke up suddenly, feeling as tired as she had the moment she had closed her eyes. She punched her pillow in frustration, cursing the dumb snake ghost for being so… so dumb. Her choice of curse words wasn't particularly biting, because her knowledge of such things was quite limited. Cursing didn't make her feel any better, or any less tired, which only made her madder.
Lily resolved to be furious the whole day.
It was still dark outside as she sat up, furiously blowing her long red hair out of her face. It was far too early for her to be awake, but she was far too wound-up to go back to sleep, no matter how tired she was. Stupid snakes, Lily thought with furious fury, I will never talk to one ever again.
Lily wrapped her blanket around her shoulders, put on her warmest pair of pink socks and opened the door to her room. She was a little hungry and so decided to go downstairs and look for something yummy to eat. Chocolate sounded nice, and it was really the very least she deserved at this point. She opened her door silently, creeping past her parent's room. She didn't think that Daddy or Mum would care what she ate this early in the day, but she was still technically in trouble for sneaking into Hogwarts, and she didn't want to take any chances. Nothing would keep her from her precious chocolate.
Lily tiptoed down the stairs, moving without making any noise. She was really good at being quiet when she wanted to be, something she was very proud of. She was just about to congratulate herself on how clever and sneaky she was when she heard voices coming from the living room and immediately stopped moving. Lily crouched on the bottom step, listening curiously.
"-not sure what Scrimgeour is up to. He seems convinced that they are going to find some dark magic down there, even though that place has clearly been abandoned for decades." Daddy was speaking, sounding very tired. Lily listened curiously, trying to figure out what Daddy was talking about. It sounded important.
"I bet Wood loves having the Ministry poking around his stadium," Lily heard Uncle Ron say. "I hear they tore up the whole pitch."
"They dug up most of it, making a complete mess of the place," Mum said, sounding angry. "It was all a complete waste of time. It didn't look like there was anything in that abandoned laboratory except rubbish, a few old books and some broken artefacts."
"Maybe," Daddy said, sounding uneasy, "but we'll never know for sure. Scrimgeour took custody of most of the stuff they found—everything that the unspeakables didn't take, that is."
"Unspeakables, what were they doing there?" Uncle Ron asked, sounding very confused. He was nowhere near as confused as Lily was, though. She blinked several times and tried to follow the confusing conversation as best she could.
"Even I don't know how the Department of Mysteries heard about the discovery of the laboratory, because our office certainly didn't tell them," Aunt Hermione said, sounding less than pleased. "They just showed up, and immediately rounded up several of the artefacts before anyone knew what was happening. I wanted to stop them, but they had the proper paperwork from the Minister's office. I can't believe after all the years we've worked at the Ministry, we still know almost nothing about what they do."
"That's fine with me," Daddy said, sounding angry. It made Lily nervous, and she moved backwards, climbing onto the second step. She hated it when her daddy was angry. "I don't ever want to set foot in the Department of Mysteries again."
Everyone was quiet for a little while, and Lily snuck forward cautious, consumed by curiosity. She peeked around the corner slowly, careful to make sure she wasn't seen. Daddy was pacing back and forth, absent-mindedly rubbing his scar with his right hand. Aunt Hermione was sitting in the chair by the fireplace, staring down at it even though there was no fire burning. Lily's auntie had that serious look on her face that she sometimes got, and Lily knew that she was thinking important, grown-up thoughts. Mum was still in her night clothes, and Lily thought she looked tired as she sat sideways on the couch, legs resting in Uncle Ron's lap. Uncle Ron didn't seem to mind—he had his left hand on his sister's legs and was using his right hand to scratch the back of his head. He looked like he was thinking hard too, but it didn't look nearly as impressive as it did when Auntie Hermione did it. Uncle Ron turned suddenly in her direction, and Lily quickly darted backwards, out of sight. Lily didn't know if he saw her or not, but he didn't say anything as the conversation continued, so she figured he hadn't. Feeling lucky, Lily leaned forward again to listen closely.
"So you said you had something important to tell us, Hermione, which is why you had to race over here at 4:30 in the morning," Mum said, yawning loudly.
"Hey, I'd like to know that too, since you dragged me out of bed and made me come all the way over here without explaining a thing," Uncle Ron said, yawning just like his sister. The children of Arthur and Molly Weasley were, as a rule, not morning people.
"It's about the laboratory," Aunt Hermione said quietly. "First of all, I did some digging in the Ministry records, and found that it was once owned by a man named Grayson Vance."
"Vance… why does that name sound familiar?" Uncle Ron asked.
"There was an Emmeline Vance in the Order of the Phoenix," Daddy said slowly, sounding sad. "She was in the group that came to Privet Drive to get me the first time I ever went to 12 Grimmauld Place. Voldemort killed her himself."
"She was always so kind to me," Mum said, her voice so quiet that Lily could barely hear her. "The summer that we were with the Order was pretty lonely, and I was on my own a lot. Everyone there was so much older, and no one really had much time for me. Harry didn't show up until August, and you two were far keener on spending time with each other than you were on hanging around with me."
"T-that's not true," protested Aunt Hermione, sounding guilty.
"Actually, it kind of is," Uncle Ron said, sounding not at all guilty.
"Anyways," Mum continued, ignoring the interruptions, "I spent a lot of time with Tonks, Hestia Jones and Emmeline Vance. They taught me all sorts of things that summer, including spells that I never would have learned on my own. Emmeline was actually the one who taught me the Bat-Boogey Hex, Vespertillium. Mum wasn't too happy about that."
"Wow, I never knew that, Ginny," Uncle Ron said.
"What you don't know would make a great book, dear brother," Mum said sweetly. Lily peeked around the corner again, just in time to see Uncle Ron swat Mum's legs with his left hand. In response, Mum kicked her brother hard in the head, who threw up his hands in surrender. Lily smiled, and scurried back out of sight. People loved to talk about how strong her daddy was, but her mum was really the one who never lost a fight—not ever. She was the strongest mummy in the whole wide world.
"So what does this mean?" Daddy asked, ignoring the antics of his wife and his best friend. "Is all this related to the Order somehow?"
"I doubt it," Aunt Hermione said. "The Vance family is one of those very old wizarding families, and mostly intermarried only with other wizards. Emmeline was kind of the exception in her family, much like Sirius was. They were never at the forefront of the pureblood mania of the older families, but most of their family still ended up in-"
"Slytherin," Uncle Ron finished harshly.
"Ron," Aunt Hermione said wearily, "you know as well as anyone that being sorted into Slytherin doesn't make someone evil."
"Of course I know," Uncle Ron replied, "but it's still a pretty good bet. So what about this Grayson bloke? Was he your usual Slytherin prat, or was he actually okay like that Wiggins lad?"
"Well, he spent time in Azkaban for illegal experimentation, which seems to indicate yes, but then he went on to teach at Hogwarts, so honestly I'm not entirely sure," Auntie said. "The important thing is that he was a wizard who pushed the limits of legal magic. There's no telling what he was working on down in that laboratory."
There was an uneasy silence. Lily was on edge too, for she did not like the sound of this place they were talking about at all. She wasn't sure what a labratori was, but there was just no way that anyone would ever get her to go near one of those. It was clearly an evil, scary place, and in her mind she pictured that it was a lot like the dark castle that she used to dream about, years and years ago. It was the scariest place she had ever seen, and sometimes she still shuddered in fear when she thought about the half-dead woman who had lived there, and the poor girl who'd been stuck there with her. Lily had never known who that girl was, or why she had been stuck in that horrible place. Hopefully nothing like that had ever happened in this labratori place that Daddy and the others were talking about.
"I thought you said that there was nothing down there," Uncle Ron said, distracting Lily from all the scary things she was thinking about. "Harry, you just said that Scrimgeour didn't find anything."
"I didn't get there until at least an hour after the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, by which time the Department of Mysteries had already come and gone," Daddy said. "They told me that they'd found nothing dangerous down in the laboratory. They could have been lying, though."
"I don't think so," Mum said. "I got there pretty early, and Hermione was one of the first people on the scene. Like I said before, there wasn't much down there. The unspeakables didn't take anything except a few broken old magic devices."
"Well, we certainly didn't find any important artefacts, but Cassius had our department keep looking far into the night," Aunt Hermione said.
"Git," muttered Uncle Ron.
"Ron, he's still my boss," Aunt Hermione said, sounding exasperated.
"Yeah, and he's still a git."
Aunt Hermione didn't bother to respond to that. Instead, she took a deep breath and said, "That leads me to the real reason I woke you all up so early. I've been trying to figure out what it means, but I'm still not sure. You see, a little after midnight one of our investigators searching down in Vance's laboratory found something."
Everyone was quiet. Lily drummed her fingers on her knee, unable to stand the suspense. What had they found? Was it skeletons? Skeletons were the very scariest thing Lily could think of. She really hoped it wasn't skeletons, because she might scream, and that would give her away.
"There was a metal statue down in the main hallway leading to the laboratory," Aunt Hermione said, "which had a large hole in the middle of it. At first the investigators assumed that the spell that destroyed the statue had been cast around the time that the laboratory was abandoned. Then they found a torn off bit of robe, right at the foot of the statue. It had been torn off of a plain black robe, the kind that the students at Hogwarts wear."
More silence, and Lily clapped her hand over her mouth in shock. She would have bet all the allowance she would ever make for the rest of her life that she knew which Hogwarts student was crazy enough to go into a dark and scary place underground. James was always getting himself in trouble.
"There was a trip to Hogsmede yesterday, wasn't there?" Daddy asked, although it didn't sound as though he actually expected anyone to answer. They all knew there had been.
"Yes, and-" Aunt Hermione started to say, but her husband started talking at nearly the same time, and he was louder.
"So you're saying that at least one Hogwarts student went on the trip to Hogsmede, and went down into that laboratory before the Ministry got there?" Uncle Ron said.
"Yes, and now the Ministry knows it," Daddy said. Lily couldn't be sure, but it certainly sounded as if Daddy thought that was a bad thing.
"There's mor-" Auntie tried to say again, but this time it was Mum who interrupted her.
"I wonder who it was," Mum wondered aloud, sounding unconcerned. "Hopefully they don't get in any trouble."
"Come on, Ginny, you can't be that thick!" Uncle Ron said. "You know how our family works. Whenever something like this happens, you can bet that a Weasley or a Potter was involved somehow. James was in Hogsemede this weekend, and there's almost no way he wasn't involved in-"
"There's more," Hermione interrupted impatiently, refusing to let anyone else cut her off. "As I've been trying to say, the stitching on the piece indicated that the robe had been made by Sophia Malkin, who took over her mother's business less than a year ago when Madame Malkin retired. That, and the fact that the scrap clearly came from a small set of robes, led the investigator to conclude that the robes almost certainly belonged to a first year student, most likely a girl."
"A first-year girl!?" Uncle Ron exclaimed. "But first years aren't allowed to go to Hogsemede. Don't tell me it was-"
"Al has the cloak," Daddy said quietly. "It wouldn't have been that hard for him to sneak out of Hogwarts with Rose. After all, how many times did we do it?"
Lily just couldn't believe it. Albus and Rosie would just never do something so, what was that word that her daddy had used the other day… reckless? Albus was quiet and shy, and Rose was as un-recklessy as anyone could be. There was just no way it was them. But then, who else could it be?
Someone started laughing suddenly, and Lily was so surprised that she peeked around the corner again to see who it was. It was Mum who was laughing, as if she found the whole thing hilarious. The others just stared at her, looking at her as though she had gone mad. "My goodness," Mum said, wiping a tear from her eyes. "We are such a bunch of nervous wrecks as parents, aren't we? The second our children go off to Hogwarts, we assume that they're getting themselves in to just as much trouble as we did when we were young."
"Ginny, you know as well as I do…"
"Harry, you're getting worked up over nothing," Mum said firmly. "I spoke to the kids yesterday, when I was at Hogwarts checking on Harry Wiggins. I know for a fact that they were in the castle all day, studying with Harry and some of their other friends. They most certainly were not in Hogsmede. James went on the trip, but it didn't sound like he went anywhere near the stadium. Whoever the student was that went down into that place, you can be sure it wasn't one of our children."
Lily sighed in relief, thankful that her brother and favourite cousin weren't going to be in trouble. Mum sounded completely certain, and Lily didn't think for even a second that her mother might be lying. Daddy let out the breath that he had been nervously holding and said, "That's a relief. You're right of course, dear, we were just jumping to conclusions. Al might have the cloak, but he's not the type of boy to pull something this dangerous for no reason."
"Boy, this parenting thing really does put you on edge," Uncle Ron said, laughing shakily. "I think I ought to write Mum a long, detailed letter apologizing for everything we put her through growing up."
"I think we all owe her one of those," Mum said cheerfully. "Now come on, let's all put this gloomy morning behind us. It sure has been a depressing few months in this country, ever since those Red Tide radicals started carrying out their attacks. I think a big breakfast would go a long way towards cheering everybody up."
"I'll help you make it," Aunt Hermione said. Lily thought her tone a little strange—she sounded almost… upset. Who was upset to make breakfast? It didn't make any sense. Then again, Lily thought, maybe Auntie sounded suspicious, not upset. But why would she be suspicious? It sounded almost as if Aunt Hermione didn't believe Mum… which was ridiculous of course.
"Oh, I think I can manage it on my own," Mum said. "Why don't you just relax? You've had a long day, Hermione."
"Oh no, I'm happy to help," Auntie said firmly. "It will give us a good chance to… talk."
Mum and Aunt Hermione started walking towards where Lily was hiding, and she had to scramble up the stairs as quickly and quietly as she could. She made it upstairs just in time and sprawled out in the middle of the upstairs hallway, sighing in relief. Her brothers might not have gotten in trouble, but she nearly had. Mum and Daddy didn't like it when Lily and her brothers spied on their important, grown-up conversations. Lily never found them terribly interesting, anyways. Mostly she just ended up feeling confused.
Lily headed back to her room, so that she could pretend that she had been fast asleep when Mum came to wake her up for breakfast. She was pretty disappointed that she hadn't gotten any chocolate, but there was nothing she could do about that now. She would just have some later. Lily yawned loudly as she entered her room. She really was pretty tired. Maybe she'd just take a quick nap before Mum woke her up for breakfast.
Lily was about to collapse onto her bed when she spotted it. She didn't scream, but she very nearly did. Coiled up on her pillow, looking as content as could be, was a snake. It was not a very big snake, maybe a little more than a foot and a half long, and Lily wasn't scared of it or anything like that. Snakes weren't so bad, really, but she just preferred them to not be on her bed.
Hey! Lily said, switching immediately to parseltongue. Get off of my bed.
That isn't very nice, the snake said, sounding sulky. Lily wasn't sure why, but she thought the snake sounded a bit like a boy who was only a little older than her. Lily felt a little bit bad for yelling at him, so she sat down on the edge of the bed and placed her hand, palm facing up, beside the snake.
I'm sorry, Lily said, I didn't mean to be rude. I just don't like anyone being on my pillow but me.
I guess that makes sense, the snake said, although he sounded a bit doubtful. Nonetheless, he slithered off of her pillow and onto her hand, coiling around her arm. It tingled a little, but didn't feel uncomfortable.
So what are you doing here, little snake? Lily asked, smiling down at the reptile.
I have a name you know, the snake said, still sulking. It's Shanjavi. And I'm not little. I'm the biggest adder in my litter.
I'm sure you are, Shanjavi, Lily said, giggling. The little snake reminded her a lot of her cousin Hugo, which she would never ever have expected. Shanjavi glared at her, or least she thought that was what he was doing. It was hard to tell, really.
Whatever, the snake said, slithering off her and towards the window of her room. I just came here to introduce myself. The Great One has a task for you, and I am supposed to guide you when the time is right.
The Great One? Lily asked. Did he mean Oxalion? If he did, it was the worst nickname of all time. Oxalion was hardly The Great One, he was more like the, um, The Stupid and Annoying One.
Oxalion the Deathless, Shanjavi said, sliding up the wall and pausing on the windowsill. He is the most powerful of all Adders, and was the companion to the greatest of your kind who ever lived. And of all the adders, he picked me for this task. I will return for you soon, when you are needed.
Lily almost laughed at the little snake for being so full of himself (he was SO like Hugo), but she was more focused on something Shanjavi had said. Just before he slithered away, she called, Hey, wait! Did you say Oxalion was once friends with the greatest wizard who ever lived? Who do you mean? Lily thought about what she knew of wizard history, and she had a sneaking suspicion she knew who he was talking about. Long ago, there had been a wizard who had been very famous for being able to talk to snakes. But surely Shanjavi wasn't talking about him, was he? He had been a bad man, not the greatest wizard who had ever lived—everyone said so. Lily would be very nervous if it turned out that Oxalion had once been friends with…
I mean Merlin, of course. Did you not know that he could talk to snakes? Shanjavi gave her a patronizing look, and disappeared out of sight.
Honestly, no, Lily'd had no idea. She was just relieved it wasn't Salazar Slytherin.
She lay back on her bed, feeling as though her head was too full of things that she had to think about. Now that Shanjavi was gone, she was a little annoyed with herself for not asking the important questions, like what Oxalion wanted her to do and when. Knowing the way snakes liked to be annoying and unhelpful, she doubted she would have gotten an answer anyways. She wanted to think more about everything she had heard, and what it might mean, but she was just too tired. The moment she lay back down on her bed, all hope that she would stay awake vanished. She yawned widely and managed to keep her eyes open for a second or two before falling fast asleep.