Chapter 21

(A/N) Another chapter! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own the plot (proud of it). Quotes are Madeline L'Engle's (A Wrinkle In Time)

*~*~*~*~*

They arrived at a dark, cold, graveyard.

"You just had to be stupid right then?" Lily asked.

"Where are we?" James asked.

"Graveyard. Because you wouldn't listen to me," Lily said.

"What?"

"Did I not tell you it was a portkey?"

"No. You just told me to let go."

"Well, why didn't you?"

"Because."

"You should have listened," Lily grumbled.

"Why?"

Lily sighed. "Do you hear anything?"

"No."

"Someone brought us here for a reason. Mainly, me."

"Just because of you?"

"Shut up."

"Quite well said, Miss Evans," a cold voice said. "I would have said it myself. Though I had different ways of it myself."

Lily and James looked up, face to face with…

"Voldemort," James said, his muscles tensing.

"In flagrante delicto," the cruel face twisted into a smile. "I believe you are the one who spoke Latin?"

"What do you want with us?" James asked.

"Us? No, my boy, you misunderstand. It's her I want. You are merely an added bonus," Voldemort said.

"Why?" Lily asked.

Voldemort smiled again. "Vitam impendere vero. To stake one's life for the truth," he said. "I will give you the truth. And then, you will, in turn, give me your life."

*~*~*~*~*

Dumbledore frowned.

Lily Evans had, of course, heard voices in his mind. Now it was time to see if she would listen. And, more importantly, to which ones.

*~*~*~*~*

Lily glared at him, her knuckles white. In the process, she looked him in the eye, and was hit with the same words she had heard in Dumbledore's office, with ten times more force and twenty times more impact.

"Help us!"

"Join us! We will help you be great!"

"You will be of great help here."

"We can make them all fall to your feet."

"All you have to do is kill him…"

"Kill him…"

Kill who? Lily thought.

"James Potter. Kill him… You will be great."

"James Potter is a small sacrifice compared to the power you will achieve."

"Kill him…"

"No," Lily said out loud.

"Evans?"

"Now is your chance… Kill the boy."

No.

"Why not? You never liked him."

No.

"Kill him… It's for the good of us all, you know."

How?

"He will bring our downfall. You must stop him!"

No.

"Don't you care for others than yourself, you selfish brat?"

Yes.

"Then kill him! It will do us all good! He any help alive, yet all the help dead."

NO.

"You are selfish. No wonder your sister hates you. You killed your parents. Selfish, silly, girl."

"No," Lily said softly.

*~*~*~*~*

Dumbledore nodded slightly. Good.

She had said no. She had refused. But couldn't any of those other voices penetrate through?

*~*~*~*~*

"Evans? Are you alright?"

"I can't," she said.

Voldemort was looking at her with intense fury.

"Selfish little-"

"Don't listen! You won't help anyone!"

"Of course you will! You'll be helping us! You'll be helping you!"

"No! Would you be able to live with yourself if you killed someone?"

"James Potter is a mere pebble in your path to glory. Kick him aside. Now."

"Lily, you aren't doing anyone any good-"

"Shut up! Impertinent little child! LISTEN! Kill James Potter!"

Lily turned, her eyes dilated.

"Evans?"

"Avada K-"

"Evans? What are you doing?"

Lily advanced on him. "Ava-"

"Stop it," James said. "Stop it."

"Kill him… Now. Get it over with. Kill James Potter."

"A-"

"Lily Evans, stop what you're doing," James ordered. "I know you're in there somewhere."

"Avada Kedav-k- k-"

"Don't do it, Lily," James said.

"DO IT! NOW!"

"A-a-Avada K-k-kedavr-vr-vra."

James dodged the jet of green.

"Evans! Stop it! This isn't you!"

"Avada K- k-"

"Evans!"

"A-avada Ke- Kedavra!"

James dodged it again.

"Stop! You don't want to do this, Lily!"

Lily collapsed. "No. No. No. NO!"

James sighed. "Evans?"

Lily was still on the ground.

"Are you alright?"

"I can't, I can't, I can't," she sobbed.

"It's okay, it's okay," James said.

"You! Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it!"

"What?" James asked, bewildered.

"Oh, she can't be bothered right now," Voldemort said lazily. "Seers tend to be a bit… emotional after ordeals."

"Your point?"

"That leaves just me… and you. My, my, this heats things up, doesn't it?"

"No," Lily groaned, getting up. "Stop it."

"Stop what?" Voldemort asked.

"Go away," Lily whispered. "You aren't really here."

*~*~*~*~*

Dumbledore sighed with relief.

So she had come through.

*~*~*~*~*

"Funny little thing, aren't you? Of course I'm here. You see me, don't you?"

"You aren't here. You aren't real."

"What am I then? Some mere illusion?"

"No. But you can't really be there. After all, you would have done something by now."

"I have done something."

"Yeah, created some sort of duplicate of yourself," Lily muttered.

"Smart you are," Voldemort said. "Only, you'd have to hurt the actual me. Not the duplicate. Problem is… who's real?"

He pulled out a crystal globe. "Look in, Miss Evans. Tell me what you see."

Lily glared at him. "Why should I?"

"You will."

Lily took the globe away. "What is it?"

"Look in," Voldemort ordered.

Inside, there was a forest, and a cloaked figure, hurrying along to… Hogwarts?

"What is it?"

"It is to reassure you, my dear, that if I am the duplicate or not, all of your friends are in danger."

"What?"

"That, if you had seen it closer, was me. Or perhaps it was a duplicate of me. Or, maybe, it was the original."

"What does it matter?"

"Well, considering you have to get to whoever the original is, yes, it would. Look in again, and tell me what you see."

Lily eyed the glass. "I see a phoenix. It's singing. Now it's dead. There's a reaper. He's singing and smiling." Lily jerked it away. "What is this?"

"That is, of course, a Dark Mirror, and reflects the spirits around you."

"They don't exist."

"That's the only one in existence, Miss Evans," Voldemort said. "Now. We had a bargain, I recall. I give you the truth; you give me your life."

"Potter, get to the portkey," Lily ordered.

"Evans, what the-"

"Get to the broom," she repeated, suddenly concentrating on the ground.

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Why?"

"Listen to me, Potter. The last time you didn't, we ended up here, with a potential madman and Dark Wizard," Lily said.

"Madman?" Voldemort asked. "I believe some sort of reprimanding is in order. Crucio!"

Lily dodged. "Potter! Get the broom!"

"What?"

She gave the broom a telekinetic flip towards him.

"What? No."

"It's active again. Get it."

"You?"

"I have unfinished business with the bozo over here," Lily said, still staring at the ground.

"Bozo? Quite a lot of names you have, young lady. Shall I give you a punishment?"

Lily looked up at last, and scuffed the dirt with her shoe, spraying sand at him. In mid air, sand became dust, which became glass, which, by the time it reached him, became tiny fireballs.

"That was quite impolite," Voldemort said. "A little time out is in order."

Lily jumped back. "Potter, get the broom!"

"I don't know where it is!"

Lily groaned, and gave it another telekinetic flip. A sudden barrier of fire and light suddenly burst from the ground to the sky. A figure that seemed to have the head and body of a lion, the wings of a raven, the tail of a snake, and the front feet of a badger was scratched into the surface of the ground, and the flames seemed to be forming the same figure.

"Whoa," James said.

"Get to the broom!" Lily ordered again.

"No, you have to go too," James replied.

Lily sighed as the figure in the flames seemed to act as a barrier, and gave the broom one last flick, landing it in James' arms, which he caught, then was whisked away in a blur of color.

*~*~*~*~*

"James! Are you hurt? Do you need help? Where's Lily?" McGonagall asked anxiously.

"Evans," James mumbled, his face in the grass. "Where is she?"

"Stop joking, Potter. Where is she?"

"I'm not," James said, standing up. "Really. Where is she?"

"Not with you, Potter," McGonagall said worriedly.

*~*~*~*~*

"Well, you can't exactly leave now, can you? The boy you so heroically safe took your only chance of leaving away with him."

Lily scowled. "What did you want with me? And why'd you turn Potter's broom into a portkey? You could have gotten to me directly."

"Hit two birds with one stone, Miss Evans. It saves up ammunition," Voldemort said. "Understand?"

"Clear. As. Mud," Lily spat.

"Quite the little bi-"

"I can leave," Lily said suddenly, as the creature of fire and light prowled back and forth between them.

"You could become great helping me, you know," Voldemort said.

"How?"

"The key to power is fear," Voldemort answered. "And through me, and working for me, you'd get more power than all my Death Eaters combined."

"No thanks," Lily said sweetly. "My mother taught me to never associate with idiots who killed random people for no reason."

"Fiery temper, Red."

"Red? Red? What sort of nickname is that?" Lily asked. "My hair's auburn."

*~*~*~*~*

(A/N) Sorry for the cliff hanger last time! It's a bad ending for now, I know… I couldn't come up with anything else.

To Come: James and Lily recount everything to Dumbledore, and, uh… more stuff.