DISCLAIMERS: Do I have to go into this? I'm warning you, it won't be pretty. You sure? Okay.... I do not own (takes a deep breath) HarryHermioneRonDracoVoldemortDumbledoreMcGonagalloranyoneelseIforgottomentionIdoownLiliDanaCarmenGreyBrianGreyandtheplotIdon'townalotdoI? (gasps for air). There. Don't make me do it again!
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: PICK YOUR OWN DAMN TITLE, YOU LAZY BUMS
As soon as he was gone, the Death Eaters turned to Lili. "What do you wish, my Lady?" one asked, bowing to her. She had no trouble answering this.
"When you brought me here, you also brought someone else. Who was it?" she asked imperiously, holding her head high.
"Draco Malfoy, my Lady," he answered in the oily voice she recognized from the forest.
"Take me to him. Now." She slid just a touch of venom into her voice.
"Yes, my Lady."
As she followed the Death Eater, Lili wondered just how many twisty passages there were in this building. More than enough to get lost in, she decided, and felt that having a guide at all times was not such a bad idea. The Death Eater led her down darker and damper passageways, and she had a pretty good idea that they were in the dungeons. **No, really?** thought her more sarcastic side. **Shut it, Daria,** she thought back. (A/N: For those of you who don't know, Daria is the main character on a MTV show of the same name. Daria is an intellegent, morbid little bitch who has a fashion plate-popular little sister, and deals with her in the only way she can: incredible doses of sarcasm. She's very similar to Lili. My friends also say I'm the living personification of Daria.)
After a few minutes, the Death Eater stopped at a door. "This is the prisoner's cell, my Lady."
"Good. I will go in alone. You wait by the door, and you will not be disobeying your master's orders. If you follow, you will be disobeying mine." She inserted as much venom as she could into this last word, and was pleased to see a slight shiver travel down the Death Eater's back.
"Yes, my Lady," he said, and opened the door.
Lili stepped in, and felt the air change. In the corridor it had not been exactly a pleasant atmosphere, but in here it was positively nasty. Not to mention dark. She ran her hand along the slimy wall, and felt a torch bracket. Praying, she reached into her pocket, and was overjoyed to find that they had moved all the things in the pockets of her old clothes into the pockets of her robes. She pulled out her magical pocketknife, a gift from Cassa on her fifteenth birthday, and opened up the lighter. The torch flared into life, and she placed it back against the wall.
She let her eyes move over the room, and in a corner, she saw what she was looking for. A pile of what looked like rags. But she doubted Voldemort would go to the trouble of using camouflage print rags. She stepped forward and shook Draco's shoulder.
He opened his silver-gray eyes, and for a moment, looked past her. Then he grabbed her arm and sat up, looking at her anxiously. "Lili! Are you all right? What happened?" His eyes darted around, and she put a hand to his face to calm him down.
"Sh, it's okay. I'm fine. What about you? What did they do to you!" she asked, horrified at the large purple bruise spreading from underneath his eye down to his chin.
"Oh, they didn't do that." Something about the way he said it disturbed Lili, but she left it alone. "I fell down in the dark. Hit my face on the floor. Stone isn't exactly soft." He grinned cockily up at her, and she felt like forgetting where they were and the trouble they were in, and just laughing out loud. Just for the hell of it.
"Let me see that bruise," was what she said instead. He tilted his face up to her, and she placed cool fingers against the darkest spots. As he watched interestedly, she closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate. After a moment, he felt something flow through her fingers into his skin, it was cool, and warm at the same time. He closed his eyes and let the strange sensation wash over his skin. When he opened his eyes, Lili sat back on her heels, and looked at him like he was an accomplishment of hers. "Better," was all she said.
"What did you do?" he asked, as he reached up a hand to touch his cheek. The bruise was gone.
"A healing thing," she replied. "One of the easiest types of magic, wandless or no. Even some muggles do it, although it's not quite as effective. It's always been easy for me. Probably because I'm the Earth Mage," she added a bit bitterly. She changed the subject quickly. "You won't belive why I'm here," she grinned, and explained their entire situation to him.
"He wants your power," Draco said slowly, feeling suspicion harden into certainty. "A mage is much more powerful than any ordinary witch or wizard. Probably stonger than You-Know-Who-"
"Just say the name, that's so irritating," Lili said exasperatedly.
"All right, Voldemort-I've gotten used to calling him You-Know-Who in public- wants your power. Potter, Weasley, and Granger would never turn. He knows that. They're too good-hearted. But you're not as goody-two shoes as they are. Don't say anything, you know they're like that." Lili closed her mouth a bit ashamedly. "You could have been a Slytherin just as easily as a Gryffindor. You probably should have been a Slytherin,"
"The hat did want to put me there," she mused, interrupting him. "But then it said I had too much of a wild streak."
"Yes, well," he said exasperatedly. "If you'll let me finish?"
"Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"Voldemort doesn't know you. He doesn't know what you're like, if you will or will not turn. You're fresh meat, so to speak. He wants you as an ally. What, you think every new recruit get offered the equal power deal? He wanted to make it so good you couldn't pass it up. Of course, if you turn him down, he'll kill you. The prophecy won't work with only three Mages," he reminded her.
"True. So I have to play along, don't I?" He nodded, and she continued. "For now, anyway. So until we figure out where we are and how to get away, I'm Lady Sarrassi."
"Sarrassi?"
"Sounds cool, don't you think?" He rolled his eyes as she stood up and dusted off the purple robes. They now had two large streaks of yellow dust where she had been kneeling on them. "Well, anyway, I'm going to tell them to put you in a room. This place can't be good for your health." She winked at him.
He ignored the problems this would create. Right now, he'd sell his sould for a good, hot shower. "All right. Now, you should probably go. That Death Eater is waiting for you, after all." She nodded briskly, then to his surprise, leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He was very glad that she immediately turned around and marched out the door, so she didn't see the rather dopey expression that took over his face.
"Draco Malfoy will be given a set of rooms adjoining my own," she told the Death Eater imperiously. "They will be furnished in the same style as my own. He is not to be harmed. Now take me back to my rooms."
******************************************************************************
Lili spent the rest of the day practising her Mage powers. To her delight, she discovered that she had the power of reanimating dead wood, although she stopped practising after her table grew roots and suddenly needed to be watered. At nine-thirty, Mitty appeared and insisted it was her duty to dress Lili in a nightgown. A frilly, pink, be-ribboned nightgown. At ten, Lili was dressed in a plain white nightshirt and sitting in her bed, fuming at the lack of pajamas in the wardrobe. At ten-fifteen, a door appeared in between Lili's wardrobe and table, and to her delight Draco Malfoy entered through it. To her frustration, Mitty swept him out, and closed the door firmly behind him. Lili fell asleep muttering about bossy house-elves.
She woke up gasping for air in the pitch-black room. Mitty had put out the torches after she fell asleep, and now Lili was in the dark, trying to remember what her nightmare had been about. All she succeeded in doing was scaring herself, with flashes of a ruined house, and a baby with dark hair and silvery-gray eyes.
She fumbled out of bed, tripping over the tiny stool Mitty had been sitting on and shivering at the temperature of the room. Miraculously, she found her way to the door between her room and Draco's.
His room was as dark as her own. "Draco?" she whispered, as softly as possible.
She heard him roll over in bed. "Earth? What's wrong?" She didn't answer for a moment, then spoke, a little ashamedly.
"I'm scared."
Draco smiled in the dark. He had no idea that this was the first time since she was nine years old that Lili had admitted to being scared of anything. "It's all right. Here," he said, rolling over. "We can share a bed tonight." He didn't tell her, but he hadn't been able to sleep either, and her companionship helped him. Of course, the part of him that wasn't prematurely fifty was glad for the excuse to share a bed with her, too.
Gratefully, she slid into the bed. "I'm not always afraid of the dark," she said quickly. "Most of the time I even like it. But it's so absolute here. Not even starlight." Draco simply nodded and slipped one arm around her waist. In a minute, they were both fast asleep.
******************************************************************************
Draco woke up before Lili. The torches had been lit, and he looked down at her. Asleep, she looked almost vulnerable, and he wanted to try and protect her. **Of course,** he thought, watching her face turn into a scowl and her fingernails dig into the pillow, **after that swordfight, it's not really as if she NEEDS protecting. I bet if it came to that, she'd end up protecting me.. oh, there she is, she's waking up.**
And she was. As she opened her eyes, she said sleepily, "Draco? What are you doing here?"
"Don't you remember?" he asked blandly. "We just had a night of wild, passionate sex."
"Did we really?" she asked, curiously and sleepily.
"Yes. And it was damn good. Want to go for another round?"
"Liar," she yawned, hitting him lightly with a spare pillow. "You just want to get some."
"Damn straight."
She sat up, and her hair fell all over her face. "I'm going to go take a shower," she informed him. "You should too. You can come into my room when you're done, and we can talk." She slid out of the bed, and was in her bathroom when she noticed Draco was following her. "What are you doing?"
"Taking a shower, of course," he said with a perfectly straight face, pulling a towel off the rack.
Lili hit him with one of the spare towels. "Go on, ya bum! Go back to your own shower!" He laughed and ran from the barrage of peach-colored towels.
******************************************************************************
When Draco finished his shower, he made his way back to Lili's room and sat down in one of the chairs. He could hear Lili in the shower, singing some song about mermaids with a bad Irish accent. After a moment, the water stopped, and Lili emerged from the bathroom, acommpianied by a cloud of steam, dressed in a simple blue cotton robe and rubbing her hair dry with a towel while singing that song. She stopped when she saw Draco, and blushed.
"The song is good. The accent is bad. Where'd you learn that song, anyway?" he asked.
"My dad is big on folk songs. That one is Irish, I think, I know it's a sailor's song, and even though we have some Irish blood in us, we can't get the accent right. Not for lack of trying on my Dad's part, though." She made a face. "Now, let's talk about important things, not my bad singing." She smiled. "So why d'you think it didn't work?" They both knew what she was talking about.
"No idea." Lili traced a five-pointed star on the tabletop with her finger as Draco talked. "We had all four element Mages, we had the Tools, I don't-" he stopped as Lili suddenly jerked her head upright and gasped. "What? What's wrong?" **Those seem to be my new favorite words,** he thought vaguely, but pushed the thought away.
"I just figured it out," she whispered, almost to herself. "It was so obvious!"
"What? What was so obvious? Tell me!" He knew he sounded like a five year old on the verge of a temper tantrum, but at the moment, he didn't particularly care.
Lili shook her head, and brushed her wet hair impatiently out of her eyes. "I just got it, with the star-" she traced the five pointed star on the table again. "Some cultures use the five pointed star to represent the elements." She quickly sketched a star on a scrap of paper.
She circled the first point, on the side. "Fire."
Her pen moved down. "Water."
Across. "Air."
And to the fourth point. She smiled. "Earth."
But there was one point left on the star, and it was this she circled now, moving the pen around a few times more than she needed to. "Spirit."
(A/N) Ha ha ha, cliffie! I'm so cruel, ain't I? I could't help it! At least I had some romance in there, right? I told you I would! Besides, I wanted to get another chapter up tonight, as a tanku (thank you in toddler-talk, I have a baby brother) for being so patient! Sniff, sniff, I love you all! You're all great! Okay, I got two reviews since I put up the last chapter a few hours ago! In the wonderful words of Mario, here we go!
Fruitbat- Yes! I know! As much as I love Star Wars, George Lucas must be going senile, to be putting that Jar Jar creature in! Evil! Evilevilevil! And thank you for the compliment!
chrosnia- Thanks! I am so glad to be home! Real food!
Ady- Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry! Dr. Bojangles said I had to have another chapter out tonight, blame him!
And, as my closing remark (for this chapter) REVIEW, DAMMIT! WHAT IN THE SAM HILL ARE Y'ALL WAITING FOR! If I don't get enough reviews, I might get discouraged, and not write any more... nice long reviews, too! Not 'good story, keep writing' (yes, I'm a hypocrite, shut up people, I'll start writng longer reviews for your stories). Tell me what scenes you liked! What you didn't like! What you want to happen! If you want examples, look at Ady, Rogue15, and Freda Potter's reviews! Those are the good ones! They inspire me! Make me want to write more! SO WRITE THE DAMN REVIEWS! Thank you and come again!
-M.W.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN: PICK YOUR OWN DAMN TITLE, YOU LAZY BUMS
As soon as he was gone, the Death Eaters turned to Lili. "What do you wish, my Lady?" one asked, bowing to her. She had no trouble answering this.
"When you brought me here, you also brought someone else. Who was it?" she asked imperiously, holding her head high.
"Draco Malfoy, my Lady," he answered in the oily voice she recognized from the forest.
"Take me to him. Now." She slid just a touch of venom into her voice.
"Yes, my Lady."
As she followed the Death Eater, Lili wondered just how many twisty passages there were in this building. More than enough to get lost in, she decided, and felt that having a guide at all times was not such a bad idea. The Death Eater led her down darker and damper passageways, and she had a pretty good idea that they were in the dungeons. **No, really?** thought her more sarcastic side. **Shut it, Daria,** she thought back. (A/N: For those of you who don't know, Daria is the main character on a MTV show of the same name. Daria is an intellegent, morbid little bitch who has a fashion plate-popular little sister, and deals with her in the only way she can: incredible doses of sarcasm. She's very similar to Lili. My friends also say I'm the living personification of Daria.)
After a few minutes, the Death Eater stopped at a door. "This is the prisoner's cell, my Lady."
"Good. I will go in alone. You wait by the door, and you will not be disobeying your master's orders. If you follow, you will be disobeying mine." She inserted as much venom as she could into this last word, and was pleased to see a slight shiver travel down the Death Eater's back.
"Yes, my Lady," he said, and opened the door.
Lili stepped in, and felt the air change. In the corridor it had not been exactly a pleasant atmosphere, but in here it was positively nasty. Not to mention dark. She ran her hand along the slimy wall, and felt a torch bracket. Praying, she reached into her pocket, and was overjoyed to find that they had moved all the things in the pockets of her old clothes into the pockets of her robes. She pulled out her magical pocketknife, a gift from Cassa on her fifteenth birthday, and opened up the lighter. The torch flared into life, and she placed it back against the wall.
She let her eyes move over the room, and in a corner, she saw what she was looking for. A pile of what looked like rags. But she doubted Voldemort would go to the trouble of using camouflage print rags. She stepped forward and shook Draco's shoulder.
He opened his silver-gray eyes, and for a moment, looked past her. Then he grabbed her arm and sat up, looking at her anxiously. "Lili! Are you all right? What happened?" His eyes darted around, and she put a hand to his face to calm him down.
"Sh, it's okay. I'm fine. What about you? What did they do to you!" she asked, horrified at the large purple bruise spreading from underneath his eye down to his chin.
"Oh, they didn't do that." Something about the way he said it disturbed Lili, but she left it alone. "I fell down in the dark. Hit my face on the floor. Stone isn't exactly soft." He grinned cockily up at her, and she felt like forgetting where they were and the trouble they were in, and just laughing out loud. Just for the hell of it.
"Let me see that bruise," was what she said instead. He tilted his face up to her, and she placed cool fingers against the darkest spots. As he watched interestedly, she closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate. After a moment, he felt something flow through her fingers into his skin, it was cool, and warm at the same time. He closed his eyes and let the strange sensation wash over his skin. When he opened his eyes, Lili sat back on her heels, and looked at him like he was an accomplishment of hers. "Better," was all she said.
"What did you do?" he asked, as he reached up a hand to touch his cheek. The bruise was gone.
"A healing thing," she replied. "One of the easiest types of magic, wandless or no. Even some muggles do it, although it's not quite as effective. It's always been easy for me. Probably because I'm the Earth Mage," she added a bit bitterly. She changed the subject quickly. "You won't belive why I'm here," she grinned, and explained their entire situation to him.
"He wants your power," Draco said slowly, feeling suspicion harden into certainty. "A mage is much more powerful than any ordinary witch or wizard. Probably stonger than You-Know-Who-"
"Just say the name, that's so irritating," Lili said exasperatedly.
"All right, Voldemort-I've gotten used to calling him You-Know-Who in public- wants your power. Potter, Weasley, and Granger would never turn. He knows that. They're too good-hearted. But you're not as goody-two shoes as they are. Don't say anything, you know they're like that." Lili closed her mouth a bit ashamedly. "You could have been a Slytherin just as easily as a Gryffindor. You probably should have been a Slytherin,"
"The hat did want to put me there," she mused, interrupting him. "But then it said I had too much of a wild streak."
"Yes, well," he said exasperatedly. "If you'll let me finish?"
"Sorry," she said sheepishly.
"Voldemort doesn't know you. He doesn't know what you're like, if you will or will not turn. You're fresh meat, so to speak. He wants you as an ally. What, you think every new recruit get offered the equal power deal? He wanted to make it so good you couldn't pass it up. Of course, if you turn him down, he'll kill you. The prophecy won't work with only three Mages," he reminded her.
"True. So I have to play along, don't I?" He nodded, and she continued. "For now, anyway. So until we figure out where we are and how to get away, I'm Lady Sarrassi."
"Sarrassi?"
"Sounds cool, don't you think?" He rolled his eyes as she stood up and dusted off the purple robes. They now had two large streaks of yellow dust where she had been kneeling on them. "Well, anyway, I'm going to tell them to put you in a room. This place can't be good for your health." She winked at him.
He ignored the problems this would create. Right now, he'd sell his sould for a good, hot shower. "All right. Now, you should probably go. That Death Eater is waiting for you, after all." She nodded briskly, then to his surprise, leaned down and gave him a kiss on the cheek. He was very glad that she immediately turned around and marched out the door, so she didn't see the rather dopey expression that took over his face.
"Draco Malfoy will be given a set of rooms adjoining my own," she told the Death Eater imperiously. "They will be furnished in the same style as my own. He is not to be harmed. Now take me back to my rooms."
******************************************************************************
Lili spent the rest of the day practising her Mage powers. To her delight, she discovered that she had the power of reanimating dead wood, although she stopped practising after her table grew roots and suddenly needed to be watered. At nine-thirty, Mitty appeared and insisted it was her duty to dress Lili in a nightgown. A frilly, pink, be-ribboned nightgown. At ten, Lili was dressed in a plain white nightshirt and sitting in her bed, fuming at the lack of pajamas in the wardrobe. At ten-fifteen, a door appeared in between Lili's wardrobe and table, and to her delight Draco Malfoy entered through it. To her frustration, Mitty swept him out, and closed the door firmly behind him. Lili fell asleep muttering about bossy house-elves.
She woke up gasping for air in the pitch-black room. Mitty had put out the torches after she fell asleep, and now Lili was in the dark, trying to remember what her nightmare had been about. All she succeeded in doing was scaring herself, with flashes of a ruined house, and a baby with dark hair and silvery-gray eyes.
She fumbled out of bed, tripping over the tiny stool Mitty had been sitting on and shivering at the temperature of the room. Miraculously, she found her way to the door between her room and Draco's.
His room was as dark as her own. "Draco?" she whispered, as softly as possible.
She heard him roll over in bed. "Earth? What's wrong?" She didn't answer for a moment, then spoke, a little ashamedly.
"I'm scared."
Draco smiled in the dark. He had no idea that this was the first time since she was nine years old that Lili had admitted to being scared of anything. "It's all right. Here," he said, rolling over. "We can share a bed tonight." He didn't tell her, but he hadn't been able to sleep either, and her companionship helped him. Of course, the part of him that wasn't prematurely fifty was glad for the excuse to share a bed with her, too.
Gratefully, she slid into the bed. "I'm not always afraid of the dark," she said quickly. "Most of the time I even like it. But it's so absolute here. Not even starlight." Draco simply nodded and slipped one arm around her waist. In a minute, they were both fast asleep.
******************************************************************************
Draco woke up before Lili. The torches had been lit, and he looked down at her. Asleep, she looked almost vulnerable, and he wanted to try and protect her. **Of course,** he thought, watching her face turn into a scowl and her fingernails dig into the pillow, **after that swordfight, it's not really as if she NEEDS protecting. I bet if it came to that, she'd end up protecting me.. oh, there she is, she's waking up.**
And she was. As she opened her eyes, she said sleepily, "Draco? What are you doing here?"
"Don't you remember?" he asked blandly. "We just had a night of wild, passionate sex."
"Did we really?" she asked, curiously and sleepily.
"Yes. And it was damn good. Want to go for another round?"
"Liar," she yawned, hitting him lightly with a spare pillow. "You just want to get some."
"Damn straight."
She sat up, and her hair fell all over her face. "I'm going to go take a shower," she informed him. "You should too. You can come into my room when you're done, and we can talk." She slid out of the bed, and was in her bathroom when she noticed Draco was following her. "What are you doing?"
"Taking a shower, of course," he said with a perfectly straight face, pulling a towel off the rack.
Lili hit him with one of the spare towels. "Go on, ya bum! Go back to your own shower!" He laughed and ran from the barrage of peach-colored towels.
******************************************************************************
When Draco finished his shower, he made his way back to Lili's room and sat down in one of the chairs. He could hear Lili in the shower, singing some song about mermaids with a bad Irish accent. After a moment, the water stopped, and Lili emerged from the bathroom, acommpianied by a cloud of steam, dressed in a simple blue cotton robe and rubbing her hair dry with a towel while singing that song. She stopped when she saw Draco, and blushed.
"The song is good. The accent is bad. Where'd you learn that song, anyway?" he asked.
"My dad is big on folk songs. That one is Irish, I think, I know it's a sailor's song, and even though we have some Irish blood in us, we can't get the accent right. Not for lack of trying on my Dad's part, though." She made a face. "Now, let's talk about important things, not my bad singing." She smiled. "So why d'you think it didn't work?" They both knew what she was talking about.
"No idea." Lili traced a five-pointed star on the tabletop with her finger as Draco talked. "We had all four element Mages, we had the Tools, I don't-" he stopped as Lili suddenly jerked her head upright and gasped. "What? What's wrong?" **Those seem to be my new favorite words,** he thought vaguely, but pushed the thought away.
"I just figured it out," she whispered, almost to herself. "It was so obvious!"
"What? What was so obvious? Tell me!" He knew he sounded like a five year old on the verge of a temper tantrum, but at the moment, he didn't particularly care.
Lili shook her head, and brushed her wet hair impatiently out of her eyes. "I just got it, with the star-" she traced the five pointed star on the table again. "Some cultures use the five pointed star to represent the elements." She quickly sketched a star on a scrap of paper.
She circled the first point, on the side. "Fire."
Her pen moved down. "Water."
Across. "Air."
And to the fourth point. She smiled. "Earth."
But there was one point left on the star, and it was this she circled now, moving the pen around a few times more than she needed to. "Spirit."
(A/N) Ha ha ha, cliffie! I'm so cruel, ain't I? I could't help it! At least I had some romance in there, right? I told you I would! Besides, I wanted to get another chapter up tonight, as a tanku (thank you in toddler-talk, I have a baby brother) for being so patient! Sniff, sniff, I love you all! You're all great! Okay, I got two reviews since I put up the last chapter a few hours ago! In the wonderful words of Mario, here we go!
Fruitbat- Yes! I know! As much as I love Star Wars, George Lucas must be going senile, to be putting that Jar Jar creature in! Evil! Evilevilevil! And thank you for the compliment!
chrosnia- Thanks! I am so glad to be home! Real food!
Ady- Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry! Dr. Bojangles said I had to have another chapter out tonight, blame him!
And, as my closing remark (for this chapter) REVIEW, DAMMIT! WHAT IN THE SAM HILL ARE Y'ALL WAITING FOR! If I don't get enough reviews, I might get discouraged, and not write any more... nice long reviews, too! Not 'good story, keep writing' (yes, I'm a hypocrite, shut up people, I'll start writng longer reviews for your stories). Tell me what scenes you liked! What you didn't like! What you want to happen! If you want examples, look at Ady, Rogue15, and Freda Potter's reviews! Those are the good ones! They inspire me! Make me want to write more! SO WRITE THE DAMN REVIEWS! Thank you and come again!
-M.W.