Lily couldn't believe her eyes. She peeked out from under the blanket, and saw that the room was crawling with Hogwarts students, through whose bodies she could see the walls of the common room. As she watched, they became increasingly solid, until a passing boy's robe brushed Lily's hand, and she almost cried out in surprise.
Where am I, and how do I get back to where I was? Lily wondered, as she looked around at the students, none of which seemed to notice her. She stood up silently; shedding her covers, and walked over to the nearest group of kids.
"Excuse me, but can you tell me where I am?" she asked the girl nearest her. The girl looked at her, and Lily felt a chill run up her spine. The girl's eyes were completely devoid of life. They were listless blue pools. She barely even blinked. Lily stumbled back a bit, and the girl smiled evenly.
"You are at Hogwarts, it is the opening day. We are the first students to be sorted into Gryffindor. Come celebrate, Lily Evans."
"How do you know my name?" Lily asked the girl, but either she didn't hear, or didn't want to tell Lily.
"Come on!" the girl called, running up the stairs. Lily glanced around at the other students. Strangely, they seemed to be fading again. Not wanting to stay in a room full of disappearing people, Lily followed her up the stairs to the first year girl's dormitory.
"What is your name?" Lily asked, but she received no answer.
"You ask too many questions, Lily Evans. Sit, listen, this will be important." The girl told her, plunking Lily down on a brand new mahogany bed.
"What's going to happen?" Lily queried.
"I told you. Watch. I don't know why he chose you; you ask far too many questions. You are supposed to listen. You and that stupid boy…neither of you listened very well." The girl's blonde curls bounced as she shook her head in disapproval.
"What boy? You took someone else here?"
"We don't take you, you come readily. Watch."
Lily did as she was told, and saw time speed up, flying by her eyes until she was dizzy from watching it move so quickly.
Someone came into the room, Lily was sure. She saw the glint of steel, and suddenly, someone became visible. Well, in actuality, this someone was shadowed. Lily saw what could have been blonde hair, and deep red robes, but she couldn't see the face, and couldn't tell whether the person was male or female.
"Now, Lily Evans, you watch."
"I am watching, I am watching." The person slid under a bed just across from Lily's, just under the window, and Lily heard scratching coming from where they lay.
"What are they doing?" Lily asked the girl
"Go see."
Lily got down on all fours and crawled over to peek under the bed. The person was on their back, prying a board loose from the bed. As she watched, they slipped the silver object-some sort of sword or knife- into the crack they had made, and wedged it closed.
"What are they doing?" Lily demanded.
"That, you need to find out for your self, Lily Evans. You cannot return until you do." The girl told her
"Wait, he's scrawling something on the bed…does that count? It's….hey!" Lily shot up and hit her head on the bed. "That's my bed!"
The girl smiled again, making Lily shiver. "Very good, Lily Evans. Now you can go back. We'll return for you though, I promise."
Lily opened her eyes. She was surrounded by darkness, and felt as if she was in an enclosed space. She reached a hand up, and it connected with wood. Feeling around for her wand, Lily found it and muttered "Lumos". The under board of a bed met her gaze. Lily drew in a choked breath, and peered at the writing. There was more to the poem!
Under the wood
Of times long gone by
Look there you should
See what you can spy
Be it still there
Stifle your cries
For this, should you care
Is where the truth lies
When the powers of dark
Take over the light
Look for my mark
And all will be right
It takes more than one
To defeat a foe
It will not be fun
That much you must know
Now, this is where you must…
Again, the poem was not finished. Lily furrowed her brow. What had happened to her? How had she…it must have been a dream…but it couldn't be….
Lily felt very confused, and very tired. She crawled from beneath the bad, and looked at the sleeping girls around her. Phyra had a ring of chocolate around her mouth, and Gladys, Phyra's friend, was curled up with a bag of crisps.
"I wonder what time it is" Lily said aloud, and glanced at the clock, which read 4:15 am. Lily sighed, pulled herself back under the bed, and went to sleep. She didn't wake up until 1:00 p.m. the next day, when Phyra began to pour water on Lily from her wand.
"What's the big idea? It's too early!" Lily protested groggily, water pouring into her nose and mouth.
"It's one o'clock in the afternoon Lily!" Phyra exclaimed as Lily choked on the water she had inhaled.
"What!? That means I missed….food!" Lily said, hurrying to get ready.
"Relax, it's extra-long-lunch today." Phyra told her, helping Lily do up her robes.
"Thanks Phyra, how was your party last night?" Lily asked, feeling genuinely friendly.
"Alright. Lucy confessed that she's, and I quote, 'in luuuuuv with Sirius." Phyra told her, watching Lily's face carefully.
"Oh did she? Well, I don't think Sirius is very interested in Lucy-" Lily stopped herself "But I could ask, if you want."
"Oh no, that's fine, Lucy's a bit of a ditz anyway, I'll bet Sirius likes more…..intelligent girls, huh?"
"Oh, I don't know." Lily said truthfully "WE've never discussed it before."
"Oh." Phyra said
"Why do you ask, Phyra?" Lily asked, raising an eyebrow. Phyra turned red.
"No reason." She said.
"Phyra…do you like Sirius?" Lily asked, pushing down the panicked feeling that had risen in her chest.
"Lily, don't tell anyone, alright?" Phyra begged, clasping Lily's hand.
"I have no intention of telling anyone, believe me." Lily said Especially Sirius she thought.
"Thanks Lil, you're a great friend!" Phyra said.
"Erm, alright, let's go to breakfast now." Lily said, and walked out of the room.
"Red, where have you been all of breakfast…where have you been all my life?" Potter had obviously eaten too much sugar.
"Staying far away from you on both accounts." Lily retorted, sitting down beside Sirius, she helped herself to a large portion of hashbrowns, some sausages, and 4 pieces of French toast.
"Ooh! Red is being mean to me! Whatever shall I do?!" Potter wailed, pretending to cry, all the while flinging eggs at Lily's head.
"Hey, Potter, restrain yourself." Lily hollered, picking pieces of egg yoke out of her hair. "Did you down a bag of sugar or something?"
"Red, the sight of you fills me with joy!" Potter said, then began to sing softly, a song that Lily had never heard before. She winced. Potter was quite obviously tone deaf.
"Your ruddy insane. It's 10:00 in the morning, and your singing. I think I am going to die." Lily told him, glad that she had no classes that day.
"We've got some exploring to do!" Sirius told her happily, grinning as Lily scrunched up her eyes in dismay.
"Well then, where are we?" Lily was becoming exasperated, mostly because they had been stumbling around in semi-darkness for the past half hour. She just knew that they would come out looking messy and mucky, and while this didn't really matter, it would mean doing laundry, which Lily could not stand.
"I am not entirely sure" Potter admitted, looking back at his friends half happily, half apologizing. Lily looked livid, Sirius was eating a banana he had found somewhere and Remus was scratching the back of his head in thought. Pettigrew, who was walking slower than everyone was too far back to be visible, but a little sniffle from Pettigrew's general direction made his thoughts clear.
"Look" Lily said, surveying everyone. "We're not getting anywhere, and we don't know where we came from. It's a shame we never finished that map, or we'd have some clue as to where things are." The other boys exchanged looks.
"Actually, Lil, we did finish it…while we were still angry at you. In fact," Sirius, who had abandoned his banana, pulled a sheet of paper out of his pocket "I had it, but I didn't want to make you angry by bringing it out." Everyone stared at him, their thoughts evident Had they just been walking through a dark, dirty corridor somewhere in Hogwarts for half an hour searching for the exit when all along Sirius had had the map with him?
"Sorry you guys, but I didn't want to hurt Lily's feelings." Sirius said. Lily glared.
"Well, that's just fine. Do my idea without me." Lily huffed angrily.
"Well we were angry at you, what else could we do? Besides, it was a really good idea." Sirius told her beseechingly. Lily was still angry, but she grabbed the map from him.
"How does it work then?" she asked
"You tap it and say ' I Solomnly swear I am up to no Good'" Potter told her. Lily did so, and suddenly, words flooded the map.
Messers Prongs, Moony, Padfoot and Wormtail welcome you.
"I take it those are your names? Nice of you to include me" Lily said, but stopped herself when the map appeared. She looked carefully, and saw 5 little dots labeled James Potter, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Lily Evans.
"Oh for heavens sake, we're just under the kitchens!" Lily exclaimed angrily, pointing to the map. According to this, we're standing right underneath an exit."
"Underneath?" Potter asked, looking up at the ceiling in despair.
"Yeah." Lily said, also looking up.
"That settles it" Remus said decidedly "We boost the two lightest up, and then they open the door, climb into the kitchen, and transfigure something into rope."
Everyone looked around, sizing each other up. Lily groaned inwardly- being the smallest, she was also the lightest.
"That's easy, it's Red and Remus" Potter said after a moment. Lily sighed
"Why do two people have to go? One would be easier." She said.
"Because it's hard to haul people up when there is only one person doing the hauling." Potter told her
"Good point" Lily agreed reluctantly, and looked at Remus. "Who's going up first?" she asked.
"You can." Remus told her, looking slightly dizzy. Lily nodded, and Sirius looked at her.
"Might as well climb up on my shoulders then." He said, shooting a glare at Potter who was making exaggerated kissing sounds.
"Sure." Lily replied, as Sirius bent down so she could climb on his shoulders. Lucky thing it's Saturday and I am wearing slacks. She thought, as Sirius stood up and she had to hold onto the sides of his head to keep her balance. As soon as he had stood up fully, Lily, being very cautious, reached as far up as she could, and felt the ceiling beneath her fingers.
"Walk a little left." Sirius did as she told him, and Lily found the handle. It took a few tugs until she had the door open and could climb into the room above. She sat up slowly, and looked around her. Ten pairs of wide, pale eyes looked up at her. Lily almost screamed, then started laughing. The house elves looked at each other in confusion, until one ventured forth.
"Is there anything we can do for you Miss?"
"Please, my name is Lily, and I was wondering if-" she was cut off by Remus.
"What was that Remus?" she asked, turning around to peer down the hole.
"I was wondering if you were going to help me up" came Remus' voice.
"Oh, oh yes. Sorry" Lily reached into the hole, and grabbed Remus by the wrist. After a few minutes, Remus had joined Lily, and they were waiting for the house elves to return with some rope, all the while eating cookies.
"Lil' the least you could do is throw us down a couple more cookies." Potter yelled up the hole
"No, you dropped the last two!" she called back down, relishing her position of power.
"Miss. Lily." The small squeaking voice behind her made Lily jump.
"Oh, the rope, thank you!" Lily said, taking the rope from the small house elf, who blushed and bowed.
"Here comes the rope" Lily said, perhaps a smidgen too late as she heard a muffled yelp of protest.
Twenty minutes later, the 5 friends were seated in the kitchen, being waited on by house elves. Lily looked up from her tea at Potter, who was grinning.
"What is it?" she asked him.
"Don't you realize? We finally found the kitchens!" he exclaimed happily.
A/N Well… the long awaited chapter 6….and I am so sorry it took so long, lazy me. Also, I lost its disk.
Ah now, for thank yous:
Broken Starlight: She who wrote me and reminded me that I had to update… and who's reviewed every single chapter of my stories, and been so nice, and who I hadn't heard from in ages! Hi hi hi! Thank you for reviewing my chapters…all of them. You're so nice
Unforgiven Child: It's okay, I don't mind you taking awhile to review
I'll try no more cliffies, promise…soon as I finish this, I am off to read some of yours…
Amelia Amelia@hazelhill.com: I am gald your glad they're friends again. Somehow, I can't help not liking Peter. I want to make him look nice, but he always becomes such a prat, it's impossible. Ah well, I don't know if anyone could handle a nice Peter ;0)
Hogwarts chica: It's kind of weird how you read my mind there. I'd already started writing it, and I read my reviews and went "Oh my." Cool….thanks for letting me use your idea…d'you have an account on ff.net?
Gabby: thanks, thank you a lot.
Cassondra: Will keep writing, yes, I think so. I don't know how much of an l/j hate fic it will become…but, you never know
If I missed anyone, I am really sorry, my computer will only let me see the last 15 reviews *kicks computer* but thank you for reviewing if you did review, and I didn't mention you!
