James Potter and The Unogua Board
Chapter 10: Time Ticks By And Lily…
'No! She told me that it happened when she was four!' James said.
'I know Petunia Evans all my life. It's five, I tell you!' Bec said.
'Alright. Scissors, paper, stone!!' James cried. Bec had "paper" and him "scissors". James whooped. 'Ha! I won!'
'Whatever. Be quick, as we have only fifteen minutes left!' Bec said desperately, looking at a nearby clock.
'And we still have loads of puzzles! Can't we just simply put them in any order? That'll take less time, then,' James whined.
'Aunt Jie said arrange, not do as you wish,' Bec said sternly.
'Fine. I think that if we open the picture album or diary, this'll take less time. We'll be finished in a jiffy. Say, when was it again when Lily learnt how to play the Unogua?'
'Ouija at three. About the same, I should think.'
'Thanks. Her life must've been pretty complicating. Wonder how she ever managed to get through all these. Other kids might just kill themselves to run away from these,' James commented, placing the picture down.
'James, you should remember that Lily's different. She probably knew that if she commit suicide, she'll end up as a wandering spirit. No one wants to be that. Our parents are killed, thus, they don't die a natural death. Because of that, they turn into spirits,' Bec explained, carefully placing a picture in its place. James glanced at the clock.
'Only five minutes left!!!' James said anxiously, his hands fumbled the jigsaw pictures franticly.
'What?! Oh no!!! oh no, oh no, oh no!' Bec wailed as she, too, arranged the pictures with equal fumbling hands. 'Why does time run???'
'Time don't run, dearie,' Lily's mirror said sleepily.
'You're talking at the wrong time, mister!' Bec snapped.
'Cuckoo! Cuckoo!' the mirror cried. 'It is twelve already!'
'Nooo!! Hey, you're lying, aren't you?' James snapped. 'Don't. We're under pressure here before you contribute. There's another five minutes left.'
'The clocks all stop, dear,' the mirror replied.
'They… what?!'
'They stop working, dear, all the wizarding ones.'
James ran quickly to a nearby clock. True enough, it stopped. He sprinted down the stairs to check on all the clocks. All of them showed five minutes to midnight. The pendulums had stop swinging and second-hand stop ticking. The clocks were all in a static state.
James ran back into the room and spotted Lily's muggle digital clock on the table. It read ten minutes past twelve. He gulped.
'Um, Bec? It's… way past time,' James choked. Rebecca, however, was next to Lily's bed her face ghostly white and her lips were nearly blue.
Realization dawn upon James.
'You don't mean…'
'She's gone,' Bec murmured, as tears threatened to spill from her eyes. 'This is so unfair to her! So unfair! She went through the obstacles of life, helped people – uh, Spirits – but her soul was claimed by Hades, Phobos and Deimos! This is so unfair!!!'
'R- relax, Bec, relax. She's probably,' James gulped. He couldn't find a better word than "asleep" to say to the older woman. Moreover, he was trying to convince himself more than Bec.
'You know that and we can't deny that fact,' Bec said softly, yet savagely. 'You know you can't go against the truth. No one can because it's truth. Fact. They're demons, to take her. She deserved a better living. A much better one.' Something in James's mind clicked, suddenly.
'Did she die a natural death?' James asked suddenly. The other girl laughed bitterly.
'What do you think? To be murdered is not a natural death, is it, Potter?' Bec said bitterly.
'I don't know, that's why I'm asking. Is it natural?'
'Of course not, because her soul is stolen!' She paused. 'Why do you ask?'
'Is Hades a soul or what?'
'He's a God. I thought you knew.'
'Just double checking,' James said, looking pensive.
'Why? What are you planning to do?' Bec asked suddenly. Something tells her that James is up to no good…
'I have an idea,' James said, running to the Unogua box at the corner. He lifted the box lid gingerly. Bec frowned.
'Potter, what do you think you're doing? Don't touch it!'
'Let me have a go at this!' James unfolded the board and lighted the wax candles. He then placed the gold coin in the center circle. His index finger was placed onto the coin rather shakily.
'I summon for Lily Evans's spirit, stolen by Him, harmed by Them,' James whispered.
'H- hang on! If that's what you're planning to do, I won't allow you,' Bec said at once.
'It's my choice and my life is always in my hand. So long as I'm at the wrong place at the right time, I'll be save.'
'… Fine. It's your choice.'
'I summon the spirit of Lily Evans,' James whispered to the coin. He waited impatiently for the coin to begin its movement. Nothing happened. Just a he was about to lift his finger and declare it a stupid joke, the coin moved unexpectedly.
"No"
'Huh?'
The coin stayed where it is for a moment. It then tugged James's finger to the surrounding letters.
No. Lily won't answer.
'Who're you?' James stammered shakily.
I am Jie. Lily would not answer.
'W- why not?' Bec asked nervously. The coin didn't move. James repeated her question.
She would not talk to anyone at all.
'No one?' James echoed.
No one.
'But I'm her friend!' The coin stayed still for a moment. It moved so suddenly that James almost pulled his finger back in surprise.
We are all Lily's friend. I am her mother. She would not speak.
'Why?'
She is too upset. She said you should not mess with this.
'Why?' James repeated. The coin didn't answer. It just made its way back to the center circle. Surprised, James stared at Bec, wondering if she had any idea on what's going on. Bec, too, had a surprised look on her face.
'What happened?' James asked. 'What does that mean?'
'I don't know. I never seen such cases as this before,' Bec replied.
'I'll try to call for Lily again,' James said with a careless shrug. 'Would you like to join in?'
'A- are you s- sure about this?'
James snorted. 'Do I look dead to you? I mean, I'm the prankster here!'
'I'm still not taking any chances,' Bec said firmly. 'You're just a sinless kid of twelve.' James snorted again. Him? Sinless? It'll never come true in the history of James Potter!
'Fine then. Lily Evans, can you please talk to me?' James said to the board. Nothing happened, or Lily just didn't answer. Finally, after a long wait of five minutes, it moved.
James, I warned you not to play.
'Are you Lily Evans?' James asked curiously, his heart pounding in his chest. The coin slide to "yes" slowly.
'Why didn't you come earlier?'
No answer.
'Okay, I'll change the question. What actually happened?'
He got me whilst you were talking to the mirror.
Bec and James exchanged confuse glances.
The mirror was a distraction. He cannot get me with your attention paid to me.
'Huh??? What does she mean?' Bec said.
'What d'you mean, Lily?' James asked in repeat of Bec's question. Lily hesitated (or was it think? James hadn't a clue) for a while.
He wanted for a chance. Mother gave it to you so that you can keep an eye on me at all times. The mirror in my room do not talk. It is a muggle mirror. It is to distract you from your work.
The coin nearly jumped from the thick board is its swiftness.
'Sorry, Lily. Is there a way we could bring you back?' James said, angry at himself for forgetting that Lily's a muggle and uses muggle things.
Please ask Bec to stop crying.
'Bec? Professor Hart? You heard – er, read – her,' James said, turning to Lily's cousin. Bec tried to stop the tears by smiling but failed terribly. Instead, more tears spilled.
'No use!!! I couldn't stop it!' Bec wailed. 'Why did I fall for that trick? I forgot Lily has a muggle mirror!'
'How about you play along?' James suggested in a hushed whisper. 'This Unogua?'
'Heavens, no!'
'Okay, okay, no need to over-react. Lily, is there any way to get you out of that place?'
The coin slowly and shakily headed towards "yes", but changed its route towards "no" at the very last moment.
'Are you sure?'
Yes.
'Oh. Okay. So how are you there?'
Fine, thank you.
'She's probably lying,' Bec said, sniffing. 'She always say that she's fine.'
'Lily, can I keep this?' James asked, pointing at the box. Of course, he really meant the Unogua.
Yes. I cannot use it anymore.
'Thanks,' James said gratefully. Deciding that she'd said enough, Lily's (invisible) finger dragged the coin back to the very circle she began the game with. Promptly three seconds later, James packed everything into the box.
'What do you plan to do?' Bec asked.
'I plan to keep in touch with her,' James replied. 'She could probably do with a friend to tell her of what's happening. Besides, do you think that I'll let someone die before my eyes? Sorry, but I won't allow that. I'm planning to get her back to Earth!'
'There's no way to bring back the dead,' Bec said gently.
'I'll find a way, then,' James said. 'After all, if there's a killing curse, wouldn't there be a curse to bring back the dead?'
~**~
'She died?! When I'm still asleep??? Why didn't you wake me up, James?' Sirius yelled the next morning.
'Ssh!! Slow it, Sirius! Bec's still sleeping!' James hushed.
'She died? I mean, Lily died?' Sirius repeated.
'Yes, she died. Last night. And you, Sirius, were sleeping like a pig,' James said, calmly drinking his cup of warm chocolate.
'What happened?' Sirius demanded.
'You're sleeping in the room and we're in Lily's room. How should I know what happened to you?'
'I'm serious!'
'I know that.'
'No, I don't mean my name!!!'
'I know you're serious! So am I when I'm answering your question, moron!'
'So what do we do now?'
'You go back home first. I have to ask Bec about my DADA homework,' James said carelessly. As expected, Sirius paled at once at the mentioned phobia of his. He left right after breakfast on his broom, thanking Tibby for the hospitality and sent a message with the help of James to thank Bec for the wonderful bed and food and joy of piecing jigsaw puzzles, as well as a deep condolence to Lily.
'My, how straight,' James said, biting into the prawn cracker in amusement.
'Who's straight? Where's Sirius?' Bec asked, coming down. Her eyes were red and puffy from all the crying and there were dark lines beneath her eyes.
'Went home,' James said. 'He's afraid of extra homework.'
'I'm not a teacher here!'
'Yeah, but he thinks that you can still assign him homework.'
'Stupid boy.'
~**~
AN: Whoopee dee do da!!! I finished!!! *grins broadly* it's the last chapter, in case you don't know. Yep, I killed Lily [*ducks the rotten tomatoes*] and no, this isn't really the last chapter. I was just kidding. There's another two more, but if I feel nice, I might combine them into one :) then again, I mightn't. No one said that twelve was unlucky - which is why the maximum number of chapters I have is always below 13. Review, please!!!! With a huge cherry on the top and a large… um, I don't know. You make your own decisions on that, cause some people [eg. Me] are allergic to cherries. Soo… review, kay?
Disclaimer: I own this story, but JKR owns the characters you recognize as hers. Amen to the creation of Harry Potter!
