DISCLAIMERS: Unfortunately, all I own is Lili. But she's pretty cool, though, isn't she?
(A/N) Yes, I know I usually put this on the bottom, but so what? I need to mention this now, before you read any further. One: I am writing romance solely because that is what gets reviews, as I have noticed, and because you asked for it, as crappy as it will be. I wrote the word 'cute' in this chapter, and it freaked me out. My friends will never let me live this down when they read it. Why can't you people just write reviews for the action/adventure stuff? Then I wouldn't be forced to write this junk. Two: DRACO IS NOT GOING GOOD! He is still mean and nasty, he just has a soft spot for Lili. Now, have we cleared this up? Good.
CHAPTER NINE: THE FIRE TEMPLE
Lili rose early the next morning, and unusual thing for her. By the time the others were up, she had already made several failed attempts at scrambled eggs, and was now trying pancakes. Hermione took one look at her (she was putting a frying pan full of pancake batter in the oven) and went to rescue Bill's kitchen. Lili was more than happy to give up trying to cook, and he sat down at the tiny table and began discussing plans with the boys. Well, the Gryffindor boys, at least, Draco was withdrawn and sullen, snapping at anyone who tried to speak to him.
"Okay, here's the deal: Me, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Draco will head for the Fire Temple, and Bill, could you please try to find some carpets for us? We'd appreciate it. Good?"
Bill shook his head. "No, not good. I'm coming with you to the Temple."
"Um, no you're not. No offense, and we're thankful and all, but you're not a Mage. You'd probably get in the way."
Bill ignored Lili's reasoning. "There is not a snowflake's chance in hell that I'm going to let my youngest brother go off on some dangerous mission alone. I'm coming."
Ron stood up and looked at Bill. "Listen to her, she's right. There is nothing you would be able to do if I got in trouble, plus, if we did get in trouble, you might get hurt. I don't want you to get hurt, you don't want me to get hurt. The best chance we have at both of us being safe is if you stay here and go carpet shopping."
Bill refused to budge. "I am coming. Unless you all want to be sleeping in an alleyway. That is, until Mum sends you a Howler, Ron. Screw the tattoo."
Lili sighed, and Draco rolled his eyes. "Fine Bill, you can come," said Lili. "But you have to do what we Mages tell you. We are in charge." Bill looked more than a little upset with the idea of taking orders from four sixteen year olds, but he agreed.
"Breakfast is served!" Hermione floated six steaming plates of pancakes over to the tiny table, and squeezed into the last seat. The seating arrangements were a little akward, Ron and Draco were situated next to each other, and each kept trying to hex the other's food. Lili rolled her eyes and looked at Harry.
"You've been awfully quiet recently. In fact, you haven't said a word since the Earth Temple. What's up?" She tried to catch his eye, and didn't notice when a lock of her hair fell into her syrup.
"The sky," he said shortly.
She rolled her eyes again. "Oh, like I haven't heard that one. Seriously, tell me what's wrong."
Harry gave a halfhearted grin. "I was kinda hoping for one lousy year where I didn't have to worry about Voldemort. Guess that's down the toilet. I shoulda known better."
Lili looked around the table quickly, to see if anyone was watching them. They weren't. Ron and Draco were still trying to curse each other, and Bill and Hermione were involved in conversation about the O.W.L.s. She turned back to Harry, and raised one brown eyebrow.
"And that explains the silence how?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. I guess it's more that Ron and Hermione are together much more, and you seem to be talking to Ma- Draco. That leaves me out pretty effectively." He had said the part about Malfoy with a tiny hint of bitterness in his voice. He hadn't meant it to sound quite like that, and wondered why it had come out that way.
Lili looked a little downcast. "I'm sorry. I never meant to leave you out or anything. It's just that none of you will talk to Draco, so I talk to him. Plus, he understands my morbid side. Most people don't get that part of me. He's my friend, like you are. I didn't mean to leave you out, I'm rambling again aren't I?" Harry nodded with a grin.
"Are you ever going to tell me whatever it is that you told Mal- Draco? I know you told him something, you had this big conversation with him and then you acted really strange for a week."
Lili avoided meeting his gaze. "Maybe sometime. Not now. Later." She stood up and was suddenly all business again. "Okay, let's go. I want to get this out of the way as soon as possible." The others nodded, and Ron closed his eyes, feeling the area around him for the temple.
It took less than a minute before Ron opened his eyes. "Okay. I know where to go." They followed Ron out of the building, and they all boarded their brooms again. Lili winced slightly as they left the ground, and Harry gave her an encouraging look.
Ron flew dreamily, almost as if he was asleep. Occasionally, he would turn sharply and fly in a completely different direction. But the others followed him without comment, and finally they landed in front of one of the smaller pyramids. They didn't see any door, and, after a minute, Draco voiced what they were all thinking.
"Okay, so how the hell do we get in?" The others ignored him. Ron seemed to be moving in a dream. He walked directly to the base of the pyramid, and placed his hand against the stone. As he did so, flames popped up in the shape of a large square around a section of stone. The flames contracted, making the square smaller and smaller, burning away the stone. As the fire pulled itself into nothingness, Harry, Hermione, Lili, Draco and Bill looked at the newly formed door in amazement. Only Ron seemed unsurprised. He simply walked in without waiting for the other five to follow him.
Inside the first room of the Fire Temple was- nothing. The room was empty, except for an ornate door on the other side of the room. An ornate door with an ornate, and very large, lock. On the door were etched runes, looking familiar to the runes scratched into the wall of the Earth Temple, but Lili could not read these. However, it seemed that Ron could.
"The key to the spear is the element itself." He seemed to have shaken off his dreamlike state, and now looked quite normal. "What's that supposed to mean?" The others shrugged, and Draco began cleaning his fingernails with a pocketknife, obviously bored. Lili and Hermione, the practical ones of the group, began to think about it.
"The element itself... Ron, call up some fire and try to burn down the door," Hermione suggested. He nodded.
Ron held his hands out in front of him, and a glowing ball of flame grew out of the air. When it was about the size of a basketball, he threw it at the door. A blinding flash of light appeared, and when they could all see again, it was obvious that it hadn't worked. The door was still whole, and as sturdy looking as ever.
Hermione shrugged. "Oh well. Back to the drawing board. Any ideas, Lili?"
"One," the Earth Mage replied. "I think they're talking about a key as a literal thing. Ron, try to shape the flame into a key, and use it to open the lock." Ron looked a bit skeptical at this, but tried. He called up his ball of flame again, but this time, it was smaller, and, after three tries, he managed to shape it into a key. He held the flame-key by it's handle (Bill looked a little disturbed to see his brother holding a flame with his bare hands), and slipped it into the lock. It fit perfectly, and the door opened. Ron grinned, and Lili looked supremely satisfied.
The others slipped through the door, one after the other. Lili was second to last. Draco was behind her, waiting to get through the tiny opening. She looked back at him, he seemed to be making no move to enter the doorway. She eyed him for a moment, then smirked at him. He smirked in return, and followed her through the door.
"By the way, nice job, Earth. Smart of you to figure it out." She raised one thin eyebrow at him, then opened her mouth to respond, but Ron beat her to it.
"What? Did I hear right? The Almighty Malfoy, compliment a Gryffindor?"
Draco turned to Ron, his face frozen in the mocking smirk that he reserved especially for Ron. "Yeah, Weasley. If you're not sure, maybe you need a hearing aid. They're a muggle thing," he added condescendingly.
"And just how would you know that? You hate muggles, besides, I don't think you have enough brains to spell 'hearing aid,' much less know what one is."
Hermione stepped between the two bickering boys and stamped her foot. "Ron, stop it. Concentrate on getting the spear."
Ron seemed to listen to her, but Draco refused to. "Mind your own business, Mudblood."
At this, Ron would have jumped Draco, but was stopped by both Hermione's form in between him and his opponent, and also by the fact that Lili got to Draco first.
Lili's fist connected with Draco's nose explosively, and he stumbled backward, holding his bleeding nose and staring at the girl he had called his friend in shock. Her oval face was contorted in fury.
"Never," she said coldly, "insult one of my friends. Ever. I don't care if I consider you my friend too. And never, ever, ever use that word. I am a muggle-born, and I swear, if you ever call me that, you will get much, much more than a bloody nose." Hermione put a hand on the taller girl's shoulder, whispering to her quietly. Lili nodded, and waved her wand. The blood flowing out of Draco's nose disappeared, and he lowered his hand, looking at Lili with hatred. Lili acknowledged him with only a fleeting expression of sorrow, then turned her attention to the third barrier (A/N: The door into the temple counted as a barrier). It was a giant wall of flame, burning in the doorway. Lili gestured to Ron, and pointed to the runes scratched next to the flame.
"Is there any way to bring this wall down so we can all get through?"
Ron read off the runes to himslef, and shook his head. "No. It says that the flame stretches through the entire tunnel leading to the spear, though. I'm the only one who can get through." He gave Hermione, next to him, an odd look. Then he moved to the front of the wall of fire. Without another word to anyone, he stepped into the fire, ignoring Bill's yells. The three other boys looked in amazement at the wall of flame for a moment, then a hand emerged from it, shaped into a thumbs-up sign. Bill and Harry smiled in relief, and Draco shrugged. Now there was nothing to do but wait for Ron.
Draco had been sulking in a corner for a few minutes, in the corner furthest from the fire, sitting on the ground in the dark. Lili tried to approach him, to apologize, but he would not listen to a single sentence, interrupting her and telling her to go away. She did, in a huff, sitting down next to Harry and grimacing.
"Bastard. He won't even listen to me."
Harry looked at her in sympathy, noticing how cute she looked when she wrinkled her nose like that. He tried to offer some advice. "Why would you want to be friends with him anyway? You don't know him that well yet, he's a real asshole." Damn. That wasn't how it was supposed to come out.
She laughed lightly, and Draco turned and glared at her. **Damn,** he thought. **She's replaced me as her friend already. And with Potter, too. Hell, why does it matter to me? I don't want to be friends with a Mudblood. She's nice, though, and she's damn pretty... aw, shit. Damn brain. Why do you always have to wreck what I'm supposed to think?**
Lili didn't know what Draco was thinking, and at the moment, she didn't particularly care. "That's what people at my old school always said to my friends about me. This one friend of mine, before she met me, ahe had heard all kinds of horror stories about me. Someone had told her that I picked one kid a day to beat up at lunch, another person said I had put someone in the hospital, someone else said I had been arrested..." She shook her head. "You can't trust what other people say. I've learned that from experience."
Harry looked at her. Her hair was wild from their ride to the Temple. She had forgotten to braid it that morning, like she usually did, and there were many knots in it. Harry had a strange desire to take a lock of her hair and try to work some of those knots out with his fingers. He shook it off, and asked her quietly, "Are you ever going to tell me what you told Malfoy?"
She didn't seem to be in a mood to argue at the moment, and simply nodded listlessly. She explained about Cassa, and her wish for revenge against Voldemort. She didn't look him in the eye until she was done, when she lifted her head and looked straight at him. "Seems silly, huh? I mean, so many people have lost friends and family to Voldemort, hell, you lost your entire family, why do I think I might have the slightest chance at doing anything to hurt ol' Snake-Freak?"
Harry had listened to her story silently, never saying anything. Now he did. "You're not afraid, are you?" He said it more like a statement than a question.
She smiled her strange smile, the cross between a grin and a smirk. "What, is that your normal way to answer a question? With another question? We're not on Jeopardy, you know."
"You didn't answer the question."
She sighed. "I am. I've just grown to hate being weak, and being afraid is the first step to being weak. It's also the first step to the Dark Side of the Force, but we'll stay out of that. I usually replace fear with anger or bad jokes. So, I don't feel scared of him."
He smiled softly. "Then you can hurt him. Voldemort's greatest strength is that people are afraid of him. If you're not afraid of him, he loses a lot of his power."
At that very moment, Ron emerged from the wall of fire, a triumphant look on his face, a spear clutched tightly in his hand. The spear was a work of art, just like the sword that Lili now carried everywhere on her back. The blade was iron, or steel, some kind of hard, serviceable metal. The shaft it was carried on was wood, a dark, hard wood, and Harry wondered how it didn't burn up in the flames. Around the shaft, just under the blade, was set a design, a pattern of rubies and gold wire inlay. Ron proudly displayed his new weapon to his friends, brother, and mortal enemy.
They all admired the spear for a moment or two, and after a moment, Lili said, "Well, all right then, we should go get those carpets now. We can't fly across the Pacific Ocean on broomsticks, you know." Ron rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed that the attention was off his new toy so quickly. But the others nodded, and they walked out the door into the bright sunlight, Draco falling behind the others. He was the last out of the Temple, and the door closed behind him.
(A/N): Okay, I know that that chapter was boring, you don't have to tell me. But I'm trying to make it L/H, like you guys all asked, but I don't know if it's working. Lili's pretty stubborn, and she will do what she wants, whether it's turning this into a D/L or punching out Draco. And about the romance: I told you people I sucked at it! I'm trying, okay? I suck at this, if anyone wants me to take out the romance, all you have to do is review and tell me, and I will take it out (unless one of my friends forces me to keep it in). Now, to my reviewers:
All of you who voted for L/H (SiriusLover, James Bond, awd fan, and Mayqueen): I'm trying, but Lili's being stubborn about this, and I don't know if it'll work out. Plus I suck at romance, but oh well, you ask, I give! Also, I never said it was gonna be a D/L, they're friends (well, kind of, they will be again when I get up the next chapter, I think), but it could go to being a D/L. I'm trying for H/L, though, since you all asked so nicely!
Rogue15: Lili got the sword for two reasons: one: the sword seems to be the type of weapon that would work best with the Earth Element. Two: Lili is my character, so she feels a bit like me. I like swords, therefore, she gets the sword. If I can't have a sword, then at least Lili can. Plus, Air (Harry) seems to connect more with the bow and arrows than the sword. Originally, I was going to give them all swords, but I changed it. Also, when Harry pulled out Gryffindor's sword, that had absolutley nothing to do with the Elements. It was Gryffindor's, not an Element sword.
(A/N) Yes, I know I usually put this on the bottom, but so what? I need to mention this now, before you read any further. One: I am writing romance solely because that is what gets reviews, as I have noticed, and because you asked for it, as crappy as it will be. I wrote the word 'cute' in this chapter, and it freaked me out. My friends will never let me live this down when they read it. Why can't you people just write reviews for the action/adventure stuff? Then I wouldn't be forced to write this junk. Two: DRACO IS NOT GOING GOOD! He is still mean and nasty, he just has a soft spot for Lili. Now, have we cleared this up? Good.
CHAPTER NINE: THE FIRE TEMPLE
Lili rose early the next morning, and unusual thing for her. By the time the others were up, she had already made several failed attempts at scrambled eggs, and was now trying pancakes. Hermione took one look at her (she was putting a frying pan full of pancake batter in the oven) and went to rescue Bill's kitchen. Lili was more than happy to give up trying to cook, and he sat down at the tiny table and began discussing plans with the boys. Well, the Gryffindor boys, at least, Draco was withdrawn and sullen, snapping at anyone who tried to speak to him.
"Okay, here's the deal: Me, Ron, Harry, Hermione, and Draco will head for the Fire Temple, and Bill, could you please try to find some carpets for us? We'd appreciate it. Good?"
Bill shook his head. "No, not good. I'm coming with you to the Temple."
"Um, no you're not. No offense, and we're thankful and all, but you're not a Mage. You'd probably get in the way."
Bill ignored Lili's reasoning. "There is not a snowflake's chance in hell that I'm going to let my youngest brother go off on some dangerous mission alone. I'm coming."
Ron stood up and looked at Bill. "Listen to her, she's right. There is nothing you would be able to do if I got in trouble, plus, if we did get in trouble, you might get hurt. I don't want you to get hurt, you don't want me to get hurt. The best chance we have at both of us being safe is if you stay here and go carpet shopping."
Bill refused to budge. "I am coming. Unless you all want to be sleeping in an alleyway. That is, until Mum sends you a Howler, Ron. Screw the tattoo."
Lili sighed, and Draco rolled his eyes. "Fine Bill, you can come," said Lili. "But you have to do what we Mages tell you. We are in charge." Bill looked more than a little upset with the idea of taking orders from four sixteen year olds, but he agreed.
"Breakfast is served!" Hermione floated six steaming plates of pancakes over to the tiny table, and squeezed into the last seat. The seating arrangements were a little akward, Ron and Draco were situated next to each other, and each kept trying to hex the other's food. Lili rolled her eyes and looked at Harry.
"You've been awfully quiet recently. In fact, you haven't said a word since the Earth Temple. What's up?" She tried to catch his eye, and didn't notice when a lock of her hair fell into her syrup.
"The sky," he said shortly.
She rolled her eyes again. "Oh, like I haven't heard that one. Seriously, tell me what's wrong."
Harry gave a halfhearted grin. "I was kinda hoping for one lousy year where I didn't have to worry about Voldemort. Guess that's down the toilet. I shoulda known better."
Lili looked around the table quickly, to see if anyone was watching them. They weren't. Ron and Draco were still trying to curse each other, and Bill and Hermione were involved in conversation about the O.W.L.s. She turned back to Harry, and raised one brown eyebrow.
"And that explains the silence how?"
He shrugged. "I dunno. I guess it's more that Ron and Hermione are together much more, and you seem to be talking to Ma- Draco. That leaves me out pretty effectively." He had said the part about Malfoy with a tiny hint of bitterness in his voice. He hadn't meant it to sound quite like that, and wondered why it had come out that way.
Lili looked a little downcast. "I'm sorry. I never meant to leave you out or anything. It's just that none of you will talk to Draco, so I talk to him. Plus, he understands my morbid side. Most people don't get that part of me. He's my friend, like you are. I didn't mean to leave you out, I'm rambling again aren't I?" Harry nodded with a grin.
"Are you ever going to tell me whatever it is that you told Mal- Draco? I know you told him something, you had this big conversation with him and then you acted really strange for a week."
Lili avoided meeting his gaze. "Maybe sometime. Not now. Later." She stood up and was suddenly all business again. "Okay, let's go. I want to get this out of the way as soon as possible." The others nodded, and Ron closed his eyes, feeling the area around him for the temple.
It took less than a minute before Ron opened his eyes. "Okay. I know where to go." They followed Ron out of the building, and they all boarded their brooms again. Lili winced slightly as they left the ground, and Harry gave her an encouraging look.
Ron flew dreamily, almost as if he was asleep. Occasionally, he would turn sharply and fly in a completely different direction. But the others followed him without comment, and finally they landed in front of one of the smaller pyramids. They didn't see any door, and, after a minute, Draco voiced what they were all thinking.
"Okay, so how the hell do we get in?" The others ignored him. Ron seemed to be moving in a dream. He walked directly to the base of the pyramid, and placed his hand against the stone. As he did so, flames popped up in the shape of a large square around a section of stone. The flames contracted, making the square smaller and smaller, burning away the stone. As the fire pulled itself into nothingness, Harry, Hermione, Lili, Draco and Bill looked at the newly formed door in amazement. Only Ron seemed unsurprised. He simply walked in without waiting for the other five to follow him.
Inside the first room of the Fire Temple was- nothing. The room was empty, except for an ornate door on the other side of the room. An ornate door with an ornate, and very large, lock. On the door were etched runes, looking familiar to the runes scratched into the wall of the Earth Temple, but Lili could not read these. However, it seemed that Ron could.
"The key to the spear is the element itself." He seemed to have shaken off his dreamlike state, and now looked quite normal. "What's that supposed to mean?" The others shrugged, and Draco began cleaning his fingernails with a pocketknife, obviously bored. Lili and Hermione, the practical ones of the group, began to think about it.
"The element itself... Ron, call up some fire and try to burn down the door," Hermione suggested. He nodded.
Ron held his hands out in front of him, and a glowing ball of flame grew out of the air. When it was about the size of a basketball, he threw it at the door. A blinding flash of light appeared, and when they could all see again, it was obvious that it hadn't worked. The door was still whole, and as sturdy looking as ever.
Hermione shrugged. "Oh well. Back to the drawing board. Any ideas, Lili?"
"One," the Earth Mage replied. "I think they're talking about a key as a literal thing. Ron, try to shape the flame into a key, and use it to open the lock." Ron looked a bit skeptical at this, but tried. He called up his ball of flame again, but this time, it was smaller, and, after three tries, he managed to shape it into a key. He held the flame-key by it's handle (Bill looked a little disturbed to see his brother holding a flame with his bare hands), and slipped it into the lock. It fit perfectly, and the door opened. Ron grinned, and Lili looked supremely satisfied.
The others slipped through the door, one after the other. Lili was second to last. Draco was behind her, waiting to get through the tiny opening. She looked back at him, he seemed to be making no move to enter the doorway. She eyed him for a moment, then smirked at him. He smirked in return, and followed her through the door.
"By the way, nice job, Earth. Smart of you to figure it out." She raised one thin eyebrow at him, then opened her mouth to respond, but Ron beat her to it.
"What? Did I hear right? The Almighty Malfoy, compliment a Gryffindor?"
Draco turned to Ron, his face frozen in the mocking smirk that he reserved especially for Ron. "Yeah, Weasley. If you're not sure, maybe you need a hearing aid. They're a muggle thing," he added condescendingly.
"And just how would you know that? You hate muggles, besides, I don't think you have enough brains to spell 'hearing aid,' much less know what one is."
Hermione stepped between the two bickering boys and stamped her foot. "Ron, stop it. Concentrate on getting the spear."
Ron seemed to listen to her, but Draco refused to. "Mind your own business, Mudblood."
At this, Ron would have jumped Draco, but was stopped by both Hermione's form in between him and his opponent, and also by the fact that Lili got to Draco first.
Lili's fist connected with Draco's nose explosively, and he stumbled backward, holding his bleeding nose and staring at the girl he had called his friend in shock. Her oval face was contorted in fury.
"Never," she said coldly, "insult one of my friends. Ever. I don't care if I consider you my friend too. And never, ever, ever use that word. I am a muggle-born, and I swear, if you ever call me that, you will get much, much more than a bloody nose." Hermione put a hand on the taller girl's shoulder, whispering to her quietly. Lili nodded, and waved her wand. The blood flowing out of Draco's nose disappeared, and he lowered his hand, looking at Lili with hatred. Lili acknowledged him with only a fleeting expression of sorrow, then turned her attention to the third barrier (A/N: The door into the temple counted as a barrier). It was a giant wall of flame, burning in the doorway. Lili gestured to Ron, and pointed to the runes scratched next to the flame.
"Is there any way to bring this wall down so we can all get through?"
Ron read off the runes to himslef, and shook his head. "No. It says that the flame stretches through the entire tunnel leading to the spear, though. I'm the only one who can get through." He gave Hermione, next to him, an odd look. Then he moved to the front of the wall of fire. Without another word to anyone, he stepped into the fire, ignoring Bill's yells. The three other boys looked in amazement at the wall of flame for a moment, then a hand emerged from it, shaped into a thumbs-up sign. Bill and Harry smiled in relief, and Draco shrugged. Now there was nothing to do but wait for Ron.
Draco had been sulking in a corner for a few minutes, in the corner furthest from the fire, sitting on the ground in the dark. Lili tried to approach him, to apologize, but he would not listen to a single sentence, interrupting her and telling her to go away. She did, in a huff, sitting down next to Harry and grimacing.
"Bastard. He won't even listen to me."
Harry looked at her in sympathy, noticing how cute she looked when she wrinkled her nose like that. He tried to offer some advice. "Why would you want to be friends with him anyway? You don't know him that well yet, he's a real asshole." Damn. That wasn't how it was supposed to come out.
She laughed lightly, and Draco turned and glared at her. **Damn,** he thought. **She's replaced me as her friend already. And with Potter, too. Hell, why does it matter to me? I don't want to be friends with a Mudblood. She's nice, though, and she's damn pretty... aw, shit. Damn brain. Why do you always have to wreck what I'm supposed to think?**
Lili didn't know what Draco was thinking, and at the moment, she didn't particularly care. "That's what people at my old school always said to my friends about me. This one friend of mine, before she met me, ahe had heard all kinds of horror stories about me. Someone had told her that I picked one kid a day to beat up at lunch, another person said I had put someone in the hospital, someone else said I had been arrested..." She shook her head. "You can't trust what other people say. I've learned that from experience."
Harry looked at her. Her hair was wild from their ride to the Temple. She had forgotten to braid it that morning, like she usually did, and there were many knots in it. Harry had a strange desire to take a lock of her hair and try to work some of those knots out with his fingers. He shook it off, and asked her quietly, "Are you ever going to tell me what you told Malfoy?"
She didn't seem to be in a mood to argue at the moment, and simply nodded listlessly. She explained about Cassa, and her wish for revenge against Voldemort. She didn't look him in the eye until she was done, when she lifted her head and looked straight at him. "Seems silly, huh? I mean, so many people have lost friends and family to Voldemort, hell, you lost your entire family, why do I think I might have the slightest chance at doing anything to hurt ol' Snake-Freak?"
Harry had listened to her story silently, never saying anything. Now he did. "You're not afraid, are you?" He said it more like a statement than a question.
She smiled her strange smile, the cross between a grin and a smirk. "What, is that your normal way to answer a question? With another question? We're not on Jeopardy, you know."
"You didn't answer the question."
She sighed. "I am. I've just grown to hate being weak, and being afraid is the first step to being weak. It's also the first step to the Dark Side of the Force, but we'll stay out of that. I usually replace fear with anger or bad jokes. So, I don't feel scared of him."
He smiled softly. "Then you can hurt him. Voldemort's greatest strength is that people are afraid of him. If you're not afraid of him, he loses a lot of his power."
At that very moment, Ron emerged from the wall of fire, a triumphant look on his face, a spear clutched tightly in his hand. The spear was a work of art, just like the sword that Lili now carried everywhere on her back. The blade was iron, or steel, some kind of hard, serviceable metal. The shaft it was carried on was wood, a dark, hard wood, and Harry wondered how it didn't burn up in the flames. Around the shaft, just under the blade, was set a design, a pattern of rubies and gold wire inlay. Ron proudly displayed his new weapon to his friends, brother, and mortal enemy.
They all admired the spear for a moment or two, and after a moment, Lili said, "Well, all right then, we should go get those carpets now. We can't fly across the Pacific Ocean on broomsticks, you know." Ron rolled his eyes, obviously annoyed that the attention was off his new toy so quickly. But the others nodded, and they walked out the door into the bright sunlight, Draco falling behind the others. He was the last out of the Temple, and the door closed behind him.
(A/N): Okay, I know that that chapter was boring, you don't have to tell me. But I'm trying to make it L/H, like you guys all asked, but I don't know if it's working. Lili's pretty stubborn, and she will do what she wants, whether it's turning this into a D/L or punching out Draco. And about the romance: I told you people I sucked at it! I'm trying, okay? I suck at this, if anyone wants me to take out the romance, all you have to do is review and tell me, and I will take it out (unless one of my friends forces me to keep it in). Now, to my reviewers:
All of you who voted for L/H (SiriusLover, James Bond, awd fan, and Mayqueen): I'm trying, but Lili's being stubborn about this, and I don't know if it'll work out. Plus I suck at romance, but oh well, you ask, I give! Also, I never said it was gonna be a D/L, they're friends (well, kind of, they will be again when I get up the next chapter, I think), but it could go to being a D/L. I'm trying for H/L, though, since you all asked so nicely!
Rogue15: Lili got the sword for two reasons: one: the sword seems to be the type of weapon that would work best with the Earth Element. Two: Lili is my character, so she feels a bit like me. I like swords, therefore, she gets the sword. If I can't have a sword, then at least Lili can. Plus, Air (Harry) seems to connect more with the bow and arrows than the sword. Originally, I was going to give them all swords, but I changed it. Also, when Harry pulled out Gryffindor's sword, that had absolutley nothing to do with the Elements. It was Gryffindor's, not an Element sword.