Body

All In The Name of Love

Chapter 11 - Hidden Plans

Felicity looked at her friend in horror. Why would anyone be after her? She voiced her thoughts.

"Why would anyone be after me Lil? I know no one of importance. I'm not even a particularly good student."

"That's not true! You've been doing just as well as I have this year. Only those two," she jerked her head towards James and Sirius, "have ever done better than us. So yes, your intelligence could be a reason. Only if that was it, why didn't they go for a Ravenclaw?"

"It might be a good idea for all of us to read those plans you found." Remus suggested.

"I thought you already had." James looked at him in confusion.

"Only Lily and Sirius. There wasn't enough space for anyone else to look."

So they all huddled together, looking at the evidence that was to make a world of difference to Flick's perspective of the whole affair. Considering it was the middle of the night, they were suddenly wide awake.

"I say we tell Dumbledore." Flick said, stubbornly.

"Felicity! We've been through this more times than I can remember. We CANNOT tell Dumbledore because we're not supposed to be here. And I'd like to see his face - 'How do you know all this Miss Howell?' 'Well sir, we've been having midnight watches.' Get a grip!" Sirius looked ready to shake her.

"Get a grip? GET A GRIP!! Some psycho group devoted to a leader who's been gone for thirty years is after me, and you're telling me to get a grip? I'm only seventeen, that's way too young to die. What're you going to do? Spend every hour of every day looking for an unknown foe? Fantastic, I don't think!"

"Calm down!" Lily said, hurriedly. "You'll wake everyone up!"

"Oh excuse me for being scared. I didn't realise it was against the law. Next time, Lily Evans, future Minister of Magic, I'll make sure I consult the rules!" Lily looked at her, hurt.

"Well, fine. If that's the way you want it!" she spun around and left the room, cheeks pink with anger.

"Great one there Flick. She'll be in a temper for days!" Ellie looked at Flick with undisguised anger. "She was right. You are too loud - way too loud. And she didn't deserve that. I'm going after her." And Ellie too left the room. James looked around at the six of them remaining.

"Forgive me for ordering you around, but maybe we should go back to bed now, and discuss this tomorrow!" His idea was a good one, and they left the tower room for their dormitories.

They awoke late the next day, but fortunately, it was Saturday. They met up in the Shrieking Shack, which they had termed their DADA HQ. (Defence Against Dark Arts Headquarters) it was here that they had talked about the whole Endommager incident, and they were going to worry about Felicity's problem in the same place.

"Maybe it has good luck in the walls." Peter said thoughtlessly.

"Good luck for some." Remus muttered.

"What was that Remus?" Ellie asked, curiously.

"Nothing!" Remus said, hurriedly. "Where're Flick and Lily?"

"Having a shouting contest across the Gryffindor dormitory." Cee said solemnly. "Last thing I heard was Felicity 'You are a-" Cee was silenced by a glare from Ellie.

"You really don't want to know what they were screaming at each other. It wasn't pretty. And Lil's supposed to be the shy sensitive type!"

"Only Madam Flooey thinks that she's the shy sensitive type. Everyone else knows she packs a good punch!" Sirius said, feelingly.

"When did she punch you?" Cee was curious. She hadn't heard about this.

"In the first year, after I called her Carrots. I think she was too mad to speak." Sirius looked sheepish. "I admired her after that. The girl's got guts."

"'The girl' is also my girlfriend." James said good-naturedly. "Find your own."

Before Sirius could reply, Lily and Felicity rushed in.

"Sorry we're late. We were just..um.."

"Discussing the Transfiguration homework." Flick helped Lily out, with a smile.

"Transfiguration right...Flick?"

"What's up?"

"I don't recall McGonagall telling us to heap as many insults as we could on to our best friends."

"Don't know what you're talking about. Come on! Have you come up with anything good?"

"We thought we'd wait and consult you, your highness." Sirius replied with mock reverence.

How charming." Felicity graced him with a sweet smile. "Perhaps you'd like to hear our," she gestured towards Lily "idea then. If you think it will work, we'll take it from there."

"You're actually talking to each other then? I thought you hated each other. It sounded like that this morning."

"Don't know what you're talking about." Lily replied, in an offhand manner. Flick winked at her.

"Well?" Ellie said, impatiently. "What's the plan?"

"Who said anything about a plan?" Felicity asked, with a wicked smile.

"Your idea then."

"Okay. Have you read the plans recently?" Lily asked.

"Sure, last night."

"That's not quite what I meant. Last night we were all a little touchy, half asleep, and probably didn't read it properly."

"Definitely didn't read it properly." Flick said, firmly. "No one's after me, exactly. Which is definitely a good thing, for me, at least. However, I'm somehow interwoven into their little plot."

"Wait a minute. How do you know all this? I thought you two were having an argument."

"Yeah right! Lil and I don't argue! We just had a difference of opinion. Anyway, I was up early this morning, and we went back to the tower, to have another look at the plans."

"And I was already there." Lily added. "There was something that didn't make sense about the whole affair last night. Why would someone be after Flick? After all she's not exactly high profile. So we talked and made up, and then we looked at the plans again. And Flick, in her wisdom, copied them. So when Cee and Ellie entered the dormitory, and Flick was yelling insults at me, it was because we were trying to decipher the whole problem. And she thought she could do it, only Jet was sitting on them, and I didn't want to move him.

We've figured out as much of their plans as we can, which is always a good thing. Going in blind is a bad idea. After all, you need to know what the problem is in order to solve the problem." Lily looked at Felicity expectantly.

"Right. What we've established for sure is that this neo-Lead group is not being led by Grindelwald. So thank the stars for small mercies. And never believe what you read in the Daily Prophet. And the second most important point is that they don't want to hurt anyone - we think. Whoever is coordinating the operation merely wants to discredit Dumbledore."

"But how do you-" Sirius began. Felicity silenced him with a glare.

"If you don't believe us, then you can have a look at the plans. Lil's got them. But that is irrelevant. What we need to do is figure out who it is that's got this bunch of low down-"

"Felicity!" Lily said, warningly.

"Sorry. We need to know who their leader is, and what their motive is. That means that we'll be spending a lot of time in the library."

"You see, Flick and I have a theory. Whoever it is that's ordering this had to have been close to Grindelwald. A brother or sister? Did he have a wife? Was she as bad as him? We, Flick and I, think that our best line of attack would be to find out about the old Lead group. So we'll have to go to the library and get the advanced Dark Arts books out. Then, hopefully, we'll get more information on all of them, and can form hypotheses. Okay?"

"I'm not going to argue." Remus replied, after a period of contemplation. "It makes sense. The more we know, the less we have to guess."

The others agreed with his philosophy. There was little else they could do, and having looked at the plans once again, they discovered that Lily and Flick were right. Further discussion led them to conclude that there was no point in continuing midnight watches.

"Well thank goodness for small mercies!" Cee exclaimed. "I was starting to get fed up. We'll be able to find all the info we need behind that portrait."

So, they knew where their unknown enemy kept his papers. It was better than they had hoped for, but was it good enough?

Chapter 12 - In The Library

Considering that Sirius Black hated the library, in the last couple of days he had been spending a lot of time in it. Along with various friends. It was all very well for people like Flick and Lily to say research, but research what exactly?

"How's it going Sirius?" Flick came and sat opposite him, large book in hand. "I would have been here earlier, but I had to get all that Potions stuff done. Have you found anything?"

"His middle name was Johann?"

"That's not exactly what we had in mind." Flick said, grinning. "Any siblings?"

"One brother - Himlert. Am I the only one who thinks all of this sounds a bit German?"

"Nope. What do you know about this Himlert character?"
"Evil. Once he killed seven Muggles, wiped out an entire family in cold blood."

"There's potential for it to be him."

"Sure. Only one small problem..."

"That problem being..." Flick asked, frowning.

"He's been dead for twenty years. Obviously there are ghosts, but something tells me that this guy wasn't going to come back."

"I'd ask why, but I don't think I'm going to like the answer."

"I don't think you would either. Am I the only one who's actually going to look at something? Or is that book there more than a pretty ornament?"

"Gee Sirius, you're oh so funny." Came Flick's sarcastic reply. All the same, she opened the book and began to scan it, and Sirius went back to his own research.

An hour on, and Sirius was beginning to get bored. There were only so many tales of evil that he could be bothered to read in one day, and he was fast reaching his limit. He was about to tell Flick he was calling it a day, when he heard her hiss

"Yes!"

"What?"

"He was a womaniser."

"Fabulous. Glad he had a good time when he wasn't killing people. Flick, how exactly does that help us?" Felicity began to count points off on her fingers.

"We know his parents are both dead. His brother is likewise, and we know that Grindelwald himself isn't behind any of this. He's probably dead as well. So there are very few people with a motive. However, his girlfriend - that's a completely different matter."

"Flick, he probably had more girlfriends than I've had hot dinners."

"Yes, but right at the end, he obviously found his Mrs. Right. Because he was engaged to be married."

"To who?"

"I don't know!" Flick looked at him in exasperation. "But I'd guarantee that she's the one behind all this."

"Yeah, but why wait all this time? Why not get it over and done with?"

"It would be too obvious right after Dumbledore got him, and his supporters probably disbanded. So she was prepared to bide her time until she had supporters, and it wasn't going to be high profile. Devious, evil, and utterly brilliant. No wonder he fell in love with her."

"So we've established a motive - revenge." Sirius began to tick things off. "And we've got a perpetrator-"

"Oooh! Big word!" Flick said, with typical sarcasm.

"A perpetrator - his fiancée. And we have a setting - Hogwarts. As far as I can see the only thing we're missing is a plan of action." No sooner had Sirius finished than Lily appeared, James in tow.

"Guys, we need to talk. Now!" Lily said, in hushed tones.

"Why?"

"Because why's a crooked letter. Come on! Don't stand there asking questions. We're going to HQ. Now!"

"You know, for someone so small, she does a good impression of a lion, tiger and hippogriff!" Sirius grumbled, to no one in particular.

Back in the Shrieking Shack, James relayed their findings.

"Lil and I were checking to see if anything had been added to the paper selection," he began. "It had. A plan of action." Felicity shot Sirius a triumphant look. "I'd offer you the good news or the bad news, but there's no good news. The bad news is that Flick is involved."

"But not as the victim." Lily put in, hastily, seeing the protest that was forming on Flick's lips.

"No." James agreed. "It's like this. Whoever it is that relays the orders has sent them to the secret agent here at Hogwarts. And before anyone asks, we don't know who he is. The aim is to frame Dumbledore as the leader of the neo-lead group."

"But he defeated Grindelwald. Why would he want to be leader of the group?"

"Use your brains Peter!" Cee retorted. "It could be made to look like a coup. He defeated Grindelwald so that he could take over the group."

"But why wait so long?"

"No one will be paying all that much attention to him. They're too busy chasing Voldemort. So it's an ideal time for the less than legal organisations to surface." Ellie answered Sirius' question.

"More to the point," Flick added, "why would I be needed."

"You're a good forger." Lily said, in a matter of fact way. "They need you to forge Dumbledore's writing, giving someone orders. It would be incriminating."

"Why not use a spell?" Cee asked. "It would be pretty simple."

"Because a spell can be reversed. If it was written properly, then there could be nothing done to alter the handwriting." Lily replied.

"And once Flick's done her bit, they can go to the Ministry, and offer it as proof that Dumbledore's behind the uprising. Plant a few more such letters in his office, and who's in a position to defend him?" James finished his explanation.

"And how long have we got to sort this?" Ellie asked the obvious question.

"If they'd stuck to their original plan, four months. But they've brought the date forward again. The aim is to put the plan into action in three weeks, the middle of March. Which leaves us precious little time to plan a solution."

They looked at each other. Things seemed to be going from bad to worse. They'd had four months to plan in originally, now there was less than three weeks.

"Let's face it, guys. We'd have to have our part plotted a week in advance, then we'd have time to sort out any problems we come across. As things stand, we've got a fortnight to foil a potentially disastrous plan." Flick said, glumly.

"Cheer up guys!" Lily said, smiling. James looked at her, bemused.

"You mean you can actually see some good in all of this." He asked her.

"James, there's good in everything if you look hard enough. And if we've got all this and our NEWT's as well, then we're not going to be bored. And you four-" and expressive hand singled out the boys, "might manage to escape detention. And before Sirius goes on about how that's a bad thing, you have to have at least one detention a week, blah blah blah, I'd like to remind you that the trophies will need a good rub soon. If you're lucky, you won't be the poor souls in there helping Flich to finish it."

"And," Flick added, "you might manage to avoid Snape in the next fortnight. Whatever anyone else says, that has got to be a good thing."

"Yeah, no one wants to see his ugly mug!" Cee giggled. "It'll be a breeze."

"I'm glad you're confident." Remus said. "Now can we go please? This place gives me the creeps."

"Scared of ghosts Remus?" Ellie asked, curiously.

"Oh come off it Ellie," Lily jumped to his rescue. "We're in a school full of them. And Remus is right. This place is creepy."

Eleanor looked at her curiously, but left it. One thing she had learnt long ago, if people wanted you to know their business, they would tell you. Otherwise, it was best to let sleeping dogs lie.

Chapter 13 - Flick and Sirius

James Potter observed Sirius who was stuck in a book again.

"Okay Padfoot, spit it out!"

"What?" Sirius asked, innocently.

"Come on Sirius, you never read library books voluntarily, and in the last three days you have done nothing to warrant a detention. Clearly something is bothering you. Either you tell me, or I tell you. Got it?"

"If you know what it is that's bothering me, although nothing is, then why do you bother asking?" James chose not to answer the question, instead he went off on a completely different tack.

"Do you remember when we figured it out about Remus? We didn't tell him what we knew, just that we knew it. Because we wanted him to tell us. That way he wasn't deceiving us. And you remember how angry you were, because he wouldn't tell us the truth. Well, just because I know what's bothering you, it doesn't mean that you don't have to tell me."

"So you want me to tell you. Fine. Tell you what exactly?"

"For goodness sake Sirius, do you want me to spell it out for you. Because I will."

"Go away."
"No. For one thing if I do you'll just sit here and live in a fantasy world, and for another you still haven't admitted it."

"What?"

"You - love - Felicity." James said it slowly, clearly enunciating every syllable.

"No I don't. You love Lily. I love no one. It's that simple."

"Which is why the two of you spend so much time in the library together."

"And even if I did fancy Flick we wouldn't get anywhere - she feels nothing for me. Besides, I told you ages ago that I'm one for a platonic relationship. We're friends. F R I E N D S. Got it?"

"No. You act like friends. It's different."

"Prongs, you don't know how much you sound like an old woman."

"Sirius-"

"James! Drop it." So James did. But that didn't mean he was happy. Not at all. Meanwhile, Lily and Felicity were having a similar conversation.

"Lil, it wouldn't work. We argue too much!"

"But that's you, Flick. You argue with each other because that's how you are. Sirius argues with everyone, and you'd never concede a point. And anyway, that's why he likes you. You're the only person who has the guts to stand up to him."

"So do you. So do James and Remus."

"Yeah, because Sirius really wants to go out with me. I'm only his best friend's girlfriend. And the reason James, Sirius and Remus are such good friends is because none of them will let the others dominate."

"It would never last."

"Flick, going out with him does not necessarily mean that you have to marry the guy."

"Yeah - James seems dead set against it."

"Yeah right! And pigs might fly! He just doesn't want to admit he loves me. And you and Sirius are just as bad! It's like living with a load of children."

"Lily, stop worrying about my love life, and start worrying about the approaching deadline we have. It may have escaped your notice, but I'm actually the primary target of a bunch of crazed lunatics. If we don't come up with a plan soon, then you won't have my love life to worry over. There won't be any love life - there won't be any me!"

"Calm down, lovey. Didn't we decide that they planned to keep you alive."

"Who's to say that they won't dispose of me once they have what they want?"

"Flick, it's not going to happen. We'll figure something out. Why don't we just forget about Sirius, James and the rest of the world, and see Hagrid. Maybe Rattie will actually let you play with her today."

"Yeah right. And pigs might fly!"

"Wingar-"

"On their own!"

A few days later Felicity burst into the Gryffindor Common room, cheeks flushed with anger.

"I think that's our cue to disappear!" Sirius muttered.

"SIRIUS!!!!" Flick yelled.

"What've I done now?" He exclaimed.

"What have you done? Lily, bless her, her mind works in strange ways, thinks you and I love each other. Last time I checked, a burning desire to yell at someone until they were nonexistant did not constitute love." Her words were soft, controlled. Too controlled.

"Felicity, if you'd tell me what exactly it is I've done wrong-"

"You know."

But that was the problem. Sirius didn't know. He and Felicity left the room, barely containing the shouting match that was waiting to happen.

"Okay, I've changed my mind. Those two should never get together. Can you imagine what it would be like? They run more hot and cold than my hot tap - and that's saying something!" Lily murmured to James.

"Spoil sport! It would be fun! We could charge for- Hey! Stop it!" Lily had picked up a cushion, and was bashing at him, until he begged for mercy.

"We won't charge! They can argue in private! Lily! Give me that cushion!" And he prised it from her grip, sprawling across the floor with the effort. Lily laughed, the merry sound pealing prettily.

"That'll teach you to be mercenary. Go and find Remus, and then the two of you might want to dress Sirius' war wounds. I think that Flick was feeling a bit, um, zealous!" And she went of in search of Cee and Ellie.

Sirius. meanwhile, wasn't faring too well up against Flick's wrath. She was mid tirade when he decided he'd had enough.

"Felicity! FELICITY! Would you shut up for just one minute and tell me what exactly it is that I've done wrong?"

"Okay smarty. You've done nothing. And that's what's wrong."

"WHAT?!!"

"Okay, before I say this, can I ask you something - would you be terribly upset if I wiped your memory when I've finished?"

"Yes. Because you don't know the charm, and I'd end up with absolutely no memory. And I have things I need to remember."

"Well, in that case, once I've said this, and we've hit each other a few times, if you could just forget it happened, I'd appreciate it."

"Fine. Now will you please-"

"I'm going, I'm going! Okay, so when I said that I didn't love you in there, I wasn't being truthful, strictly speaking. I sort of...love and hate you...you understand?"

"Um...no."

"Okay, see if you understand this." And before he could stop her, she'd leant forward. Sirius was quite concerned that she was going to hit him, so when she planted a firm kiss on his lips he was slightly shell-shocked. Before he had a chance to respond she was gone.

Much later, before they went to sleep that night, Flick told Lily the whole story in hushed tones.

"You mean you yelled blue murder at him because you hate him because you love him. Very refined Flick. You handled it really well."

"This from the girl who told her boyfriend she loved him in the library. The library of all places."

"Never mind. It'll work out all right in the end. What will be will be and all that."

"I feel so much better!" Came the wry reply.

Whatever happened between Flick and Sirius the next day, no one knew, and neither were prepared to tell. But when Cee and Lily saw them later, no one could doubt that they were a couple.

Chapter 14 - Planning

The two weeks were almost up, and the eight seventeen year olds had come up with a solution. They were sunning themselves in the school grounds. The March sun was warm, and it wasn't really fair to Remus to continue to use the Shrieking Shack.

Lily looked over at Flick and Sirius, and did a double take. Then she turned to James.

"I swear we were never that bad." Ellie, hearing her words looked at her frankly.

"You don't know how much I'd love to say you were worse, but sadly, I'd be lying. They're awful, and we thought you were bad."

"They were. Awful." Felicity looked at her friend and winked. "Now, I believe that someone had a plan."

"Right. And about time too!" Cee added. As Ellie and Remus decided to turn intellectual, and make it up, perhaps they should explain."

"Okay." Remus said easily. "It's like this. Lily and Flick will stay together all day on the fourteenth of March - D-Day if you like."

"What?" Ellie asked.

"Muggle saying." Lily informed her. "Don't worry."

"As I was saying," Remus continued, "Lil and Flick stay together. If they can't get Flick alone, then they'll probably take Lil too, but that's fine. If there are two of you, you'll figure out an escape route easily."

"Hold on a minute!" Flick interrupted. "Why do we have to go at all? Couldn't we just detain our mysterious assailant?"

"Sure you could. But then you wouldn't have anything incriminating, and they'd get away Scot free. So you have to go with them. But the two of you will be fine. Anyway, there's more. Obviously, we need a contingency plan, in case Flick and Lil don't quite manage to find an escape route. So Ellie and Peter will shadow them all day, and then they'll be there if they need help. Ellie will brief you four later, okay?" All four of them nodded their heads. "Good. Meanwhile, James, Sirius and Cee will be staking out Dumbledore's office. Then, when our unknown intruder comes to plant the papers and letters there, you can detain him. Obviously, the three of you'll need the Invisibility Cloak, so no one sees you."

"What're you doing?" Cee asked, curiously.

"I'm monitoring the situation on the map." Remus announced. "That way, if it looks like anyone needs extra assistance, I can help them. Everyone clear?" There was a general nodding, and then Flick spoke.

"Sometimes I wonder about our sanity. Surely the sensible thing would be to go to someone in authority."

"Don't go there again!" Ellie moaned.

"I'm not. But you have to admit we're all stark raving mad."

"Speak for yourself." Lily replied. "The rest of us know exactly what we're doing."

Talk turned to other affairs, but later Ellie and Lily were discussing their plan.

"I know it'll work," Lily began, "But I don't particularly like the idea of going along with it. I can see where Flick's coming from when she says about talking to someone in authority about everything, but I don't see how we can. They'd never believe us."

"I don't know. There's a minuscule possibility that they might believe us, but we don't have enough evidence to prove our point. All the plans have gone-"

"They've what?!" Lily exclaimed.

"Exactly." Eleanor said. "So there's no evidence. And we don't know who our spy is. So we're better off dealing with it ourselves."

"Ellie, I've just remembered one small problem - I promised Hagrid I'd look after Rattie. I have to for Care of Magical Creatures anyway, but he's doing some business for Dumbledore then, and I said I'd keep her."

"Oh well," Ellie said, philosophically, "Maybe she'll bite." Lily laughed at that.

"Oh, I think we can guarantee that!"

They had three days before all their plans had to be put into action. Ellie was briefing 'her' team.

"I suggest that we follow the two of you in the next couple of days, and you two try to stay together at all times. It's good practice you see."

"You'd never guess her maternal grandfather was a hit wizard would you?" Lily said to Flick, dryly.

"It shouldn't be too hard – you're together a lot of the time anyway. Peter and I will follow you."

"It's fortunate that we can't Apparate, or we'd have a problem." Flick commented.

"Once they hole you up - if they whole you up, then Peter and I will get you out. Understand."

"Clear as mud." Flick said cheerfully. "How many house points are we going to lose."

"Don't be so pessimistic." Lily scolded her. "We might actually win some."

Chapter 15 - Moving In To Action

March 14th dawned bright and cheerful.

"You'd think that the weather might be dull." Flick said groggily. She had a habit of getting up when she was still half-asleep, and consequently was never quite with it in the morning.

"I prefer it bright." Ellie said, conversationally. "Makes me more optimistic."

"All right for you to say," Flick grumbled, under her breath, "you aren't the one they're gunning for."

"Who got out of the wrong side of bed this morning?" Cee asked cheerfully.

At breakfast their chatter was usual. There was no sign that they were planning to do anything that they wouldn't otherwise do. Except, perhaps, Felicity's irritability.

"Come on Flick! Snap out of it!" Sirius said to her grinning.

"Excuse me? Read my lips - do not say snap out of it to me. Got it?"

"I think so. Flick?"

"Snap out of it." Flick replied, grinning back.

"Hallelujah! She smiled. Score Sirius a point!" Lily exclaimed.

"Shut up Lil!" Sirius and Flick said at the same time. They looked at each other and burst into gales of laughter.

"See I told you!" Came Lily's triumphant cry.

Flick and Lily were fortunate in that they had the same lessons on Tuesdays. Unfortunately, while they were in lessons, Ellie and Peter weren't always with them. However, when they had discussed this they had decided that it was very unlikely that they would be ambushed between lessons.

Care of Magical Creatures was followed by Divination. But Lily and Flick didn't make it to Divination. A mysterious somebody took care of that. One minute they were walking down a corridor, the next they were somewhere that they had never seen or heard of before. A figure cloaked in black was with them, and a woman stood on a raised platform.

"You have done well, Lead Z." The cloaked figure pushed back the hood, and Lily and Flick gasped. The man who had been sending messages wasn't a man, but a woman.

"She's a- She's- Her-"

"Flick! Stop stuttering!" Lily said sharply. I'd say look surprised, she thought to herself, but something tells me I don't need to!

"However," the woman on the platform continued, "You have one girl too many. Which is Felicity Howell?"

"She did her homework well." Flick muttered. "If she thought to investigate it'd be obvious who I am. Since when was I about a foot shorter and a red head, I'd like to know."

"The tall girl with the dark hair is Felicity." Lead Z replied.

"Zephyr darling, you could scarcely call the ginger one tall!" The platform woman laughed, a cold evil laugh. Felicity felt Lily stiffen beside her. If there was one thing her friend couldn't stand it was being called ginger. The beautiful russet curls were anything but.

"Don't let her get to you." She murmured. Lily relaxed slightly.

"Do you think I'd be able to hit her at some point?" She asked, sweetly.

"Lil, once she's in custody I hope we never see her again. And don't get violent."

"Felicity Howell. Come here." The woman on the platform demanded.

"Make me." Came Flick's reply. It wasn't sullen, rather challenging.

"Believe me girl, you don't want to play games. Once I was the most powerful woman on the globe. Now look at me! Forced to rely on silly schoolgirls to help me gain power."

"You should know I don't take kindly to insults." Flick's reply was clear, and devoid of emotions.

"Don't mess with me. You'll regret it. I am Gretl. Once I was the fiancé of the great Grindelwald. Now I am nothing. For this Dumbledore will pay. You think I shall let a stupid child get in my way? For that is what you are - a child. I will have what I want, and it is in your best interests to do it my way. Any other way, and your little friend." She emphasised the little. "Will feel the worse for wear. Now, will you work with me?"

"No." Flick said calmly.

"Here we go again." Lily muttered, calmly. "What is it about me and curses?"

"Crucio!" Gretl shouted, pointing her wand at Lily. The girl stiffened, but that was the only sign of the pain she was feeling.

"You need to do better than that." Lily spat, through gritted teeth. "I've been done over by the best, and believe me, I'm a lot harder than I look."

"We'll see about that." Came the calm reply. "I am not interested in you. It is your friend's cooperation I need."

"Fantastic. Do you think you could vary curses? Only I get bored after a while." Lily's reply was almost bored. Flick marveled at the strength of character her friend demonstrated.

"Crucio!" The curse was shot at Lily again, and Flick winced in sympathy. The only thing that kept her from breaking throughout the long session of torture that followed was Lily's courageous banter between curses. Flick could never give in when her friend was prepared to go through far worse.

After an hour, neither Lily nor Flick showed any sign of relenting, although Lily was leaning heavily on Flick. Gretl was growing desperate. In the end, she said the words that chilled both girls to the bones.

"If you won't help, I kill her." Lily looked at Flick, eyes widened in horror. That was no empty threat. The heartless shell of a woman before them would carry it out. What she had said was true. She had no need of Lily, it was Felicity that she wanted. To her Lily was just another tool.

"Don't worry." Flick muttered at her friend. "It's not over yet." She raised her voice.

"All right. I'll do it." Lily sagged in relief, and Felicity did not miss the strain showing in her eyes. What were usually emerald green orbs were cloudy with pain.

"You know something Flick?" Lily's voice was hoarse. "I hate adventures."