Chapter Thirty: All the Devils are Here

Lily screamed as a shock of ice-cold water jolted the dizziness from her vision. "What the bloody –"

"Good, you're back with me," Lupin said, drying her with a flick of his wand. "We have work to do."

Lily looked wildly around the greenhouse. Had that just happened? Had that really, truly just happened?

Of course it hadn't.

Lupin saw the progression of thoughts across her face and rolled his eyes. "Yes, it did. Come on. We have a great many things to do and not much time to do them in."

"You're not making any sense," she said. "Why do we need to do anything? I mean, I am obviously going to go and deal with Sirius for using the Imperius Curse on my best friend, but –"

He stared at her. "You think Sirius had to use the Imperius Curse on a girl? Have you met your cousin?"

"She's not any other girl. She's Marlene McKinnon, she hates Sirius and she's my best friend," Lily snapped. "And she's done both – hating Sirius and being my best friend – for the last seven years and more. I can't imagine that's changed overnight."

Lupin sighed and spoke to her very slowly, as if to an infant. "Lily. You of all people should know that under the Imperius Curse, people are not capable of free speech or actions. Correct?"

"Yes," she said suspiciously.

"Meaning, she couldn't have spoken without an express verbal instruction from him. I didn't hear him give her one before she asked if they could leave. Did you?"

Lily thought back frantically. He was right. Marlene had asked Sirius if they could leave all by herself. But…

But there was no way she'd been so deceived about Marlene. And the Dark Lord was not known for his tolerance of those not pureblood; she would hardly risk her own safety by going to him.

Lily's head ached furiously. "Out with it," she said. "What do you think we need to do?"

"Well, first we need to leave Hogwarts, of course," he said. "I can't stay here without James and Sirius, there's nothing for me here. To be perfectly honest, there's nothing for you either."

She bit her lip. "Well, there are still NEWTs and things…"

"Lily, Lily, Lily. Haven't you realised yet? The real world is coming closer all the time, and it doesn't care how many O-grades you have." He jerked a hand viciously through his dark brown hair. "Right, after we leave, I think we should go to your sister Andromeda. I reckon she'll know how –"

She stared. "My sister? Excuse me? I'm not going to Andromeda! What good would that do? She's completely cut off from the Dark Lord's circle, she's married to a Muggleborn, and she's pregnant! We aren't going near her. Why exactly are we a we, again?"

Lupin shrugged. "Dumbledore asked me to keep an eye on you, you know. Make sure you were okay. I don't want to let him down."

"That makes no sense whatsoever," Lily said. "When exactly did he ask you this? Besides, you're a Slytherin. You hate Dumbledore."

He looked surprised. "Why on earth would I do that? He let me into this school, knowing what I was. He even made me Head Boy. I'm beyond grateful to him, and he knows that he can rely on me to fulfil any favours he requests back. What, did you think that Slytherins don't know the meaning of loyalty, or gratitude?"

"One would never have known it," Lily snipped, but she was in the wrong and she knew it. She flushed.

He snorted. "You're remarkably judgemental, for a girl who's broken her family's every rule. Houses aren't so cut-and-dried. Take Frank Longbottom – he's a Gryffindor, and he wouldn't know courage if it bit him in the arse, would he?"

"That's completely untrue," Lily said coldly, but the mention of Marlene's boyfriend made her wince. "Oh, God. Frank. I have to tell him this before we do anything. I have to tell him about Marlene."

"Don't," he said. "I don't want anyone suspecting that anything might be wrong, and noticing our departure."

"I don't even know if I'm leaving yet, let alone with you," she said. "Let me put it this way. I shall be talking to him whether or not I have your permission" – her fingers sketched quotation marks around the word – "and I'll be doing it now."

"Fine," he said, his mouth tight with irritation and tiredness. Lily remembered that it would be the full moon in a week or two and felt a stirring of pity. No wonder he was surprisingly keen on Dumbledore. The man had ensured that Lupin would one day be employable, maybe even respected…

Rage shot through her as she realised something.

"Let me get this straight," she said abruptly. "So, Dumbledore asked you – another student, a Slytherin boy I hardly know, and a half-blood werewolf to boot – to look after me, a Black witch, without letting me know?"

Lupin shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not privy to his thoughts, but I imagine he thought you wouldn't want to know…"

"I don't need babysitters," she snarled. "Especially not from Dumbledore, of all people. I need knowledge. How dare he try to keep it from me?"

Dimly, the awareness of being manipulated was growing on her, fanning the flames of her fury. She had always known that, as the youngest of her sisters, she was cosseted from information: a part of her welcomed it. But she would not tolerate it from him, the man who had turned her away when she had gone to speak to him of Sirius, the man who had tried to pull her strings without telling her a single thing.

A plan began to coalesce in her mind.

"I'll see you back here in an hour," she said roughly. "I'd better go and see Frank now."

Lupin looked wary, but she strode away before he could argue.

Lily found Frank in the Gryffindor common room, sitting across from a tall blonde girl he was tutoring in Astronomy. He looked up with a smile.

"Lily! How've you been? I haven't seen you all day!"

"Frank," she said. "Can I talk to you somewhere? Privately?"

He looked at her sharply at the tone of her voice, and nodded. "Where?"

"The… Astronomy Tower," she said, her gaze falling on his homework. "Let's go."

"I'll see you later, Alice," he said, bending down to pick up his bag as they wended their way out of the common room. The blonde girl nodded and waved.

"Have you been with Marlene?" he asked, falling into step beside her as they walked through the corridors. "I haven't seen her for quite a few hours. I'm guessing she's in one of the greenhouses?"

Lily held up her hand. "Please. No more questions until we get there."

Looking even more alarmed, he shut up until they had ascended the spiral staircase and settled down with their backs to the wall, staring out at the stars speckling the sky.

"Don't keep me in suspense," he said. "Well?"

Lily took a deep breath. "Marlene has run off with Sirius."

He blinked. "Come again?"

"Marlene," she repeated clearly, "has run away with Sirius."

"As in your cousin Sirius? Sirius Black?"

"The only Sirius there is," she said, watching the blank incomprehension on his face.

"Well, why would she do that?"

"Frank," she said. "I don't think you're getting this. Marlene is apparently in love with my cousin, apparently has been for some time now, and has apparently left with him to God knows where of her own free will. Do you understand?"

"You mean… she's left me?" he said. His eyelids flickered repeatedly. "She's left me?"

"Yes."

"I don't believe it," he said strongly. "You're lying."

Lily tried not to feel hurt. Frank was in shock, after all. "I wouldn't do that to you," she said stiffly.

"Then he's forced her."

"That's certainly a possibility I'll look into, but I don't think he has," she admitted. "She seemed to be acting of her own volition."

"He must have. Blackmail, the Imperius, whatever. Marlene wouldn't do that to me. And how'd they leave, anyway?"

"They seem to have Disapparated," Lily said, remembering.

"Impossible!"

"I know," she said wryly. "A fair number of impossible things have happened today."

He stood up and abruptly rammed his fist into the hard stone wall beside them, face twisting furiously. She rose too. His knuckles were scratched, but he only slammed them into the wall over and over again, until bleeding gashes appeared on the back of his hand, trickling scarlet over his fingers. She watched impassively, letting him expend his rage, and stopped him when his hand was a mangled mess.

"Frank –"

He shook her off and turned on her, snarling. "Exp –"

Lily reacted instinctively. "Stupefy!"

She stared at his frozen body, stunned. Had the entire world gone mad today? First her duel with James, then Marlene and Sirius, and now Frank Longbottom of all people trying to curse her.

And the madness wasn't even over yet, because now she had to go meet a werewolf and plan their escape from Hogwarts.

She had, however, no intention of going to see Andromeda. Enough people had lied to her and obscured the truth from her. There was only one place left where she could get it directly.

The place where James and Sirius already were: Malfoy Manor.

AN: Lily is planning on making all the wrong choices here :D

Ellie - Lily's not planning on staying in school if James and Sirius aren't there! So that's how I'm solving the problem of proximity. I could tell you the answer because it happened in exactly the next chapter haha. Voldemort will be appearing soon too! How long the story will be... that's a really good question. It's already longer than my other competed stories. I'd say we're maybe 3/4 of the way through? Possibly 80-90,000 words by the end? That's largely a wild guess though. It's already way longer than I could even imagine it being when I first started it! I wouldn't call these chapters near the end. I'm afraid I definitely won't be able to update the new chapters twice daily haha. Maybe once a week I hope. Ooh what's barfi? Don't think I've heard of those! Lemon drizzle sounds great, keep me updated on the flour search. I've actually only ever been to Nando's once! Totally don't worry about late reviews - I'm just grateful for any reviews and definitely prioritise your sleep xxx