A visit to Hogwarts
By Ola
*~*~*~*~*
What happened in the last chapter: ("He does look rather heavy, and anyway, I wouldn't touch a Slyverin if his life depended on it." The girls giggled at each other, and then, laughing, they walked away, happy of a day well spent.)
Remember? Then read on:
*~*~*~*~*
But that day was by no means finished yet. First Alex,
then Lily under the invisibility cloak, walked into the Common Room. Sirius was
lounging in an armchair near the fireplace, playing exploding snap with Remus. But
as soon as he saw Alex, he bounded over to her, in his usual happy go lucky
manner.
"Hi Lily," he said out loud, then winked at the red
head to tell her that he knew who she was. She smiled back, understanding, a
warm feeling growing in her tummy.
"Come on, I want to show you something," said Sirius,
in a voice unlike his own. Alex rose an eyebrow, questioningly, but followed
her friend as he took her hand, leading her into the secret room they had
found.
Once there, he softly closed the door, gently enclosed
both of her small hands into his two bigger ones, took a deep breath, and said
very fast "I really like you Alex, and I don't care that in reality you don't
look like you do now. It's not important. I like you for who you are inside." Alex
only looked at him, her gray eyes wide. But before she could say anything, he fished
into his pocket for a little, scarlet box, thrusting it into her hands, as if
afraid that she might refuse. Alex opened her hand wide, staring at the
present, surprised. Finally, after what seemed to Sirius like ten years, she
opened the lid with a trembling hand, as her mouth formed a silent little "o"
of awe. Inside the small package, on a crimson cushion with golden edges, was a
finely woven silver necklace with a pendent in the form of two tiny, intertwined
hands, gleaming in the faint light of a candle. Slowly, she looked up into his
deep brown eyes, and smiled, as Sirius let out a breath he was not aware he had
been kept. He fasten the necklace around her neck, and left his arms there, as
Alex rose on her toes and planted a little kiss on the tip of his nose, and
whispered "I like you too Sirius." Bringing her closer to him, he gently kissed
her for the first time, his lips lingering on hers, just as they both heard a
gasp. Turning toward the door, they saw a very pale James, his hand still on
the door knob.
"Sirius! How could you do this to me! I thought I was
your best friend," he yelled at the pair. "It w…" his jaw snapped shut as he really
looked at the red headed girl, and at the color of her eyes. "Alex," he
squeaked, turning a deep red, as he finally understood whom he was seeing. "I,
eh…I'm sorry, I thought, it, eh, that it was…" but he didn't get a chance to
finish, as another voice, full of laughter said "Lily?" All three whirled
around to look at Lily, holding the invisibility cloak in her hand. Alex and
Sirius smiled, turning slightly red as what was supposed to be a private and
romantic moment turned into a social gathering. And James turned even redder,
if possible, glaring at Lily, and stammering, "what are you doing here?"
"Well, when I saw Sirius taking Alex somewhere, I wasn't
about to let such a great opportunity pass, would I?" she said, still smiling.
But inside her, she felt warm all over, and her hands were tingling. James
thought it was me, kissing Sirius, and he got jealous?! As she thought
about it, something kept nagging at the back of her mind, but she couldn't
figure out what it was. So finally, she said, "Alex, I am sorry to interrupt your
little moment with your friend over there, but if you don't remember, we have
something to do tonight," emphasizing what she said with a jerk of her
head. "Oh," said Alex, finally coming out of the clouds, and smiling sheepishly,
and before the two guys could ask them what exactly the thing they were
supposed to do was, the girl left.
Left alone, Sirius looked at James with his
mischievous smile and said, "so, you thought I was with Lily? And why exactly
would that torment you, since she is your enemy?" He knew very well what was
happening, but this was a great opportunity to annoy James a little. And, well,
he had interrupted him in the middle of a very serious moment.
"I, eh, I didn't want her to hurt you," James lied
unconvincingly.
"Prongs, you are my best friend, and as such, I will
give you an advice. Tell Lily the truth. I know you love her, don't say you don't
'cause it is very obvious you do." And he left, leaving James alone in the
small room to munch on what just happened.
*~*~*~*~*
Tonight, at eleven, as Lily had said, the girls had
their secret meeting with the wizard Dumbledore.
Quietly walking through the silent halls, they were careful
not to be seen. As they entered into the small room, they were as awed by the
huge mirror as the first time. (A/N: did the mirror had a special name?) And
just like the first time, Lily saw an older version of herself and James, two happy
figures smiling down at her, while Alex saw herself as a doctor…with a wand.
And Albus Dumbledore appeared.
"Good evening Miss Evans and Miss Westwood," he said
in his calm voice. "I am happy to see that you came back. You probably already
know that I have left some of my possessions in Hogwarts, in a little room near
the Grifindor tower." A twinkle crossed his clear blue eyes as he watched the
two girls fidget and nod. "Good. I would like you to go there, and bring me a
red, leather bound notebook. It is rather small and should be at the bottom of
the big wooden chest that is in one of the corners." The girls left.
They came back half n hour later, a little winded,
but still alone. Along the way they ran not into Filtch, but the marauders, of
all people, going on a mission of their own. Any other day, the girls would
have sopped to say "hi", and trade some info on the whereabouts of the
caretaker. But today, what the girls were doing was too important, so they his
in the shadows until the boys walked by, hoping they would be unseen. Sirius
stopped a few seconds, as if listening for something, but quickly caught up to
the already retreating James and Remus.
"All right," said Dumbledore in a quiet voice. "Now,
Miss Evans, I would need you to perform the charm on the last page. It is quite
difficult, and I think you will need to link with the power of Miss Westwood to
make it work. That is, if you accept. I will not force you to do it, especially
as after you finish the charm, you might be weak for a few days, like after a
bad flu. Make your decision wisely, and ask all the questions that you want. As
much as I want to get out of here, I won't do it by force," he finished, very
seriously, looking at each of the girl.
"What do you mean Lily will need my power? I am not
a witch," said Alex.
"Every living organism has a life force in itself. A
force that allows it to live. When someone is healthy and young, their force is
very strong, and in addition, if they are magical, wizards or witches, their
life force is even stronger. Then, as people get older, they loose some of that
energy, until they die, at which time, they loose all of it. When someone dies
prematurely, at a young age, all that energy is released into the universe,
like a tight rubber band snapping. That is why some wizards kill innocent
victims, to use their energy, instead of theirs in powerful spells. Each time
you do magic, you use your life force, but as your spells are relatively weak,
you don't even feel it draining you. As your spells get stronger, you will get
more tired. With some spells, you can drain your whole energy and burn yourself
out, from which you cannot always recover, and usually die. That is why, when a
spell is very strong, wizards can link with other wizards or even non-magical
persons to share their life force and make it easier. It is dangerous, I won't
say it isn't," he finished quietly in his fatherly voice.
The girls looked at each other, and then, slowly,
they nodded. Dumbledore sighed, whether from accepting the inevitable or from
relief, the girls didn't know, but he said, "well, to link, you have to hold
each other's hand, and relax. It is simple, but not known by many." The girls
sat on the stone floor. Lily held Alex's hand in her left, her wand in her
right, and the open notebook on her crossed legs. Taking a deep breath, she
began reciting an incantation. And as she did so, a dim, blue, glow surrounded
her, spreading through her arm, to encompass Alex too. The longer she spoke,
the brighter the light became, and the stronger the tension in the room was. Finally,
when she felt that the tip of her fingers would burst, the hallow of light
around the two girls blew in a blinding flash.
Lily's eyes were flashing spots. She couldn't see
anything, but she heard a gasp from the door, a thump, and someone coughing. Did
it work? What was that noise? Is Alex all right? When her vision cleared,
what she saw wasn't what she expected. Saying she was surprised was an
understatement. Her first concern, Alex, was all right; she must have fainted
for a moment, and that was probably the thump she had heard. But her eyes became
as big as tea cups when she saw who was holding her in his arms. Sirius! And he
was looking at her, shooting daggers. No, he wasn't looking at her, but at
someone standing behind her. She turned her head to stare at an old man with a
silver beard and twinkling blue eyes. He was wearing a red wizard robe,
embroidered in gold. The usually fun and crazy Sirius was now red with anger,
and Lily was happy that this anger wasn't directed at her, because she somehow
knew that he was capable of seriously injuring the person he was angry at:
Dumbledore.
"What did you do to her, old man," he said, in a
calm and cold voice that was even worse than if he had shouted. He was still cradling
a dizzy Alex, looking at her every few seconds with concerned eyes, as if to
make sure she was still there. Dumbledore, after sparing a glance at Sirius and
Lily concentrated his whole attention on Alex, his usually merry eyes were now
flashing from worried, to surprised, to astounded.
"I thought this was impossible," he whispered, awed.
(And now, I am going to leave you hanging for the
next chapter! Ha ha! No. All right, I am not that mean. Read on!J) :
His eyes unfocused for a moment and he seemed to be
looking at something far away. Then he came back to reality, and turned to
Sirius.
"She will be fine, Mr. Black." There is no need to
say that Sirius was taken aback. But Lily didn't know if it was because
Dumbledore knew his name or because he finally paid attention to him. "When you
performed the spell you found in that old notebook, did something…weird…happen?"
he asked.
Sirius's eyes became even bigger, if possible, but
he answered, "we were supposed to have invited a boy, but we found Alex. We
thought it was because of her name. It's a boy's name, you know." And after a
few seconds he added "I don't know what you would think weird." So he told the whole
story, answering Dumbledore's questions when he asked for particular details.
"Yes,… I suppose it was the blur. It should have
been a clear image," he mumbled to himself. Finally, Lily couldn't take it anymore.
"What are you talking about!? Would you be so kind
as to enlighten us?!" she said sarcastically. Dumbledore looked at her for a
long time, and Lily almost wished she had stayed quiet. Then he spoke again.
"Miss Westwood…is a witch," he said simply.
(A/N: and now, I AM going to leave you. Cliffhanger!
Yea, I love those! All right, if you review, I will continue! And anyway, I have
to review for my AP Bio test. It's Wednesday, and it lasts 3 hours!!! I should
probably add a few more exclamation point to that! Wish me luck please! And
review!) J