Disclaimer: It's JK's
A/N: Hey everyone! SORRY ABOUT NOT POSTING THIS SOONER!! I meant to post it two weekends ago, but I didn't have ANY time what-so-ever to write. I had two biology projects and a history project two weekends ago, and I only finished half of this last weekend. I must have done at least 20 hours of homework. Anyways, this is the last and final chapter to this year, and I'm soooo excited to finish it, you seriously don't understand. Man! Well, here goes nothing. :) I hope you enjoy! Later days...
The Rivalry of James and Lily
Year 4 - Chapter 5
Finding James
Lily started to panic immediately. James in Hogsmeade? Not today, no way! She nearly screamed when she spoke to Sirius.
"Sirius, what's the fastest way to Honeydukes!?" She was trembling as she yelled this, disturbing about three quarters of the common room.
Sirius gave Lily a puzzled look, then spoke slowly and softly to Lily, trying to imply that she should do the same. "Lily," he paused. "First, you go to the one-eyed witch on the third floor, and then simply tap it and say Dissendium. It leads straight into the Honeydukes cellar. Why?"
"No time for that now! Listen, Sirius, go to Dumbledore and tell him where I've gone. Tell him to come to Honeydukes immediately!" she hollered over her shoulder, diving through the portrait hole.
"Lily, wait!" Sirius yelled after her, more confused than ever. He was too late, however, and by the time he was out of the portrait hole, she had completely disappeared.
"That was interesting," the Fat Lady said, astonished.
"I guess you could say so," said Sirius, more to himself than the portrait. "Flabbergash," he mumbled, and he went back inside to get Kate.
Meanwhile, Lily was running as hard and as fast as she could. She could barely think, she was so scared. All she could focus on was getting to James as fast as possible, or what might happen if she didn't. After what seemed like centuries of strenuous running through a dark tunnel, and tedious staircases, Lily was finally at the cellar entrance to Honeydukes. Pulling her cloak hood up over her head so no one could identify her, she slowly opened the trap door and peered inside.
Immediately, she pulled it back down, however. The store keeper was standing practically inches away from it! Unluckily, when she closed it, it made quite a load thud. Pulling herself deep into the shadows, even though she knew the storekeeper couldn't see her, she waited with bated breath. She could hear the keeper walking practically on top of the trapdoor, and mumbling things under his breath. After 5 minutes or intense silence, Lily heard the storekeeper walking back upstairs. Slowly, she pulled the trapdoor up again. She pushed her way out onto the cellar floor and headed up the stairs. She peaked in through the window on the door. The owner was across the store helping another customer. PHEW! Silently, she slipped out of the back door, and into the main part of the shop. Immediately, she began to search for any sign of James. Where could he have gone?
Quietly, Lily slipped out of the shop and into the dark, deserted streets. She didn't know where to start looking. Then she saw two dark, cloaked figures; Malfoy and Snape! Staying in the shadows, Lily followed the duo to a wooden, run-down door beside Honeydukes that she most definitely would have overlooked if it hadn't been pointed out to her. In a raspy old voice, the door talked to Snape and Malfoy.
"Password?" it grunted. Malfoy looked bewildered, but Snape stepped forward.
"End to the Heir and Flower," he whispered in a barely audible whisper. It was a miracle Lily could hear him. Although she was grateful she could hear the password and continue her search for James, she couldn't help but feel a knot build in her stomach. The password confirmed that the people in that room were actually after her and James. Who else did she know that was named after a flower, other than her sister, and who else was an heir of anything of relevance other than James? Taking a deep breath, Lily pulled her cloak tightly around her once again to hide her face and walked bravely up to the door. She had never been more afraid of anything in her whole life.
As she approached, she heard the door ask her gruffly for the password. Tentatively she replied, "Ummm.... End to the Heir and Flower." Scared the door would see through to her true colors, she hung her head, even though she knew this would make no difference in identifying if she was a traitor.
Steadily, with a giant creak, the door slipped open just enough for her to fit through. Putting one foot in front of the other, she forced herself to walk into the room, petrified of what she might find inside. With a sigh of relief, Lily noticed that where she now was not a room, but a giant stone passageway that led in one direction. The murky lanterns and mice squeaking in the corners made chills lurk down her spine. She shivered uncontrollably and walked cautiously down, down, until she ran headlong into someone. Only then did she notice the line of people all waiting to get somewhere.
"Sorry," she grunted, trying to disguise her voice.
The man she ran into simply leered down at her, making her feel very uncomfortable. Slowly, the line in front of her began to move and the man turned back around.
Lily's heart was pounding faster than it ever had before. She felt as though her heart was made of stone, and was bruising her chest with each beat. As she slowly walked forward, she noticed the tunnel branch off in another direction. She was quite tempted to explore this dark area, as she heard muffled footsteps coming from its depths, but decided to stay in the line and see what was ahead. As she got closer, she noticed an old man putting a spell on each person as they went by. Intrigued, she continued to watch, and she noticed after every person passed, it flashed green. When she was about 10 people away from the spell performer, a small, hunched man was next in line. What happened next, startled Lily so badly she almost let out a cry. I giant flash of red light split the air and the continuous words of "traitor, traitor," split the silence. She watched in horror as six burly men emerged from the shadows and dragged the other man off, not taking any notice of the look of pain engraved in his frightened face.
Not wanting to repeat this man's event, Lily slipped out of the line, mumbling something about dropping her wand. Her mind clouded with fear, she began to speed walk back down the hall, only stopping when she passed the other tunnel and she remembered why she was in this situation in the first place. James. She had to find him. She had to keep searching. He had to be in here. Just then, she looked down on the ground and saw something quite interesting. It was a filibuster fireworks wrapper. Curious, Lily peered down the tunnel and noticed another a little farther into its depth. Silently she crept inside, blending with the shadows, unaware of another person's presence.
Without warning, she was attacked from behind. A hand was wrapped tightly around her mouth, preventing her from screaming, although, she screaming wouldn't exactly be wise either with the swarms of Death Eaters crawling around. Squirming with all her might, she was forced into a wall, and then flipped around. She felt the attacker pull her hood down off her face.
"Lily?" the person gasped.
She looked into the attacker's eyes. "James!" she breathed.
"What are you doing down here? You scared me half to death!" he whispered harshly.
"Scared you half to death? At least I didn't sneak up on you and force you into a wall!" she retaliated, holding her head to show him the gash on her forehead excreting fresh blood.
"Sorry," he said, sounding sincere, but picking up his serious tone right away. "You must get out of here immediately. Do you know how dangerous this is?"
"Then why the hell are you down here?" she replied sarcastically.
"Listen, I can handle this on my own."
Just then she saw a streak of light heading down the passage. Quickly, she pulled James into a small crevice just big enough for two people. After a huge, cloaked man walked by, Lily turned to him. "Would you like to say that again?"
James glared at her. How did she always end up right? He stared hard into those fiery green eyes, so full of determination. Then he sighed. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to endanger Lily, yet he still wanted to find out what exactly was happening in this meeting and, to put it bluntly, how to stop them from killing him and Lily. He sighed again.
"You know, I may be more of a help than you think," she said, standing up and dusting herself off.
"I don't think so girlie," said a gruff voice behind her. Lily turned and came face to face with a man who seemed nearly as big as Hagrid, but with a face as jagged and deformed as a weathered rock. His misshapen eyes held none of Hagrid's warmth, and his brownish, blackish hair was entwined with dirt and leaves. He raised his wand and Lily closed her eyes, frozen with fear.
"Stupefy!" Lily heard from the corner. Lily grimaced, expecting pain at least, but felt nothing. She opened her eyes and saw James with his wand raised pointing toward the ogre-like man.
"Run," he breathed as footsteps from the entrance to the passageway began to ring throughout the hall. Lily didn't need telling twice. She grabbed hold of James's hand and together than ran as fast and as hard as they could, but to where, they had no idea. They had no idea where this passage lead, or if, in fact, it lead anywhere.
James could hear hexes being hurled up at them. He could hardly withstand the splitting cramp in his side, but still he pushed, eager to save Lily. She was starting to slow down, obviously too tired to continue. "Come on," he encouraged. He pushed her in front of him to keep her at a quick pace, and also to protect her form any well-aimed hexes. They twisted and turned deeper and deeper into the heart of the tunnel, praying they would somehow survive.
"James I can see light! We must be almost out of this place! James!" Lily looked back at him and he was doubled up in pain. He had been hit! He was gasping for air like he couldn't breath.
"Oh no, oh no, oh no. James! Come on!" Lily put his arm over her shoulder, dragging him toward the exit. She could hear footsteps closing in on her. She turned around. Everything around her was pitch black. She pulled out her wand as James was gasping for air.
"Lily, leave me. Save yourself," he managed to breath out.
"Yeah right," she mumbled, pushing back her hair and getting ready to duel, even if she was really no match for a bunch of Death Eaters, probably not even one. She could sense someone moving in front of her. She raised her wand, ready to perform the first curse that came into her head. She squinted her eyes, looking around. She really couldn't see anything. Suddenly she felt James being thrown into her, then herself being pushed against the wall. She swiveled around, her wand raised high. But without warning, the ground crumbled away at her feet and she felt herself and James falling. She grasped his hand and looked up. And although it was black, she was able to see a pair of dark, cold, but oddly familiar eyes. She was now sliding down what seemed to be some sort of slide, James right behind her. He was passed out, but appeared to at least be breathing.
Faster than it started, the slide ended, and she was thrown out onto some sort of grassy hill. James landed softly beside her. She had no idea where she was or what the hell had just happened to her. Had someone just saved her by pushing her down that... that... passage? She turned to James. Wait, was he breathing?! Oh god. She shook him uncontrollably.
"James! Wake up! James! Don't do this to me! I lov- like you! A lot! Oh God! Help please!" She cried, looking up towards the heavens. She heard a low moaning coming from next to her. She looked back down, he was moving.
"James!" she screamed, throwing her arms around him.
"Owww! Oww, Lily get off!" he cried, holding his stomach.
"Sorry!!! Oh James-"
"I know, I know! All guys are babies," he grumbled, still holding his stomach, but looking at Lily with a bright sparkle in his eyes. He smiled, which she immediately returned.
"Now promise me you won't ever, ever, ever do that again! You hear me?" she yelled. "I have never been more scared in my whole life."
James looked at her. "How did you get out of there? And why did you save me?"
"Oh come off it, James. You didn't actually think I'd let you die."
James smiled at her gratefully. "I wouldn't have let you die, either. That is if I could breathe, however."
Lily couldn't control herself. "Oh come here," she laughed, pulling him into a huge hug. And then he did something she wasn't expecting. He kissed her. When he pulled away, James was mesmerized. They looked deep into each others eyes and smiled at exactly the same time.
"Er, I guess we should get out of here," she giggled, grasping his hand and interlocking her fingers in his.
As though on cue, Dumbledore appeared running. "James, Lily," he gasped. "Are you all right?"
James and Lily looked at each other, then turned back to the professor and nodded.
"If you're sure, just walk over the ridge of this mountain and Madam Pomfrey will be there. I don't care what you two say, you're spending a night in the hospital wing," he gazed over Lily's gash in her forehead and frowned at James's irregular breathing.
They both nodded, and watched Dumbledore go off in what they supposed was the direction of the Death Eaters hideout. Still hand in hand they walked over to Madam Pomfrey who immediately began to dance around them, whining over their injuries. James and Lily both rolled their eyes to each other, and patiently allowed the nurse to escort them safely back to the castle.
***
At midnight that night, Lily woke to the sound of whispers near her.
She silently turned and was surprised to see Snape lying in the bed next to her. James, who was on the other side, was still sound asleep. Dumbledore was talking quietly to Snape, but in an unusually grave tone.
"I'm sorry, Snape, but you are expelled. You were caught in the Death Eater's hideout. I can't allow students in league with Voldemort to remain in my castle. Do you even understand the seriousness of your actions?"
Snape nodded mutely, tears welling in his eyes. "Sir, I'm... I'm sorry. If you'd give me a second chance..."
Dumbledore looked at him gravely. "Unless someone can speak on your behalf proving you aren't as involved in the Dark Arts as you appear, I have no choice but to expel you."
Snape looked down at his hands, then over to Lily. When he noticed she was awake, she gave him a very odd expression. He didn't know what to do. If only the professor knew what really happened in that tunnel. But no one would ever back him up...
"Professor," Lily stated, groggily, "You can't expel Snape."
Surprised that she was awake, Dumbledore turned to her, a certain spark in his eyes. "And why is that Miss Evans?"
"He... He saved me when I was down there with James. He pushed me through that secret passage that allowed the escape. Without..... him.... I would be... be dead."
"Are you sure?" he asked, but he didn't sound surprised.
"Yes. I'd recognize his eyes anywhere," she replied sternly.
"Very well, I think everyone deserves a second chance," said Dumbledore, his eyes now twinkling. And with that he left the room without further questions.
Snape mouthed a "thanks," to her, which she returned with a smile. She laid her head back down on her pillow, staring at the ceiling. Tonight had definitely been an interesting night. She shook her head removing the horrifying memories from reentering her head. She turned and lay facing James's bed. She smiled again at his innocent figure and finally drifted off to sleep.
A/N: The end! I'm so sorry it took so long to post! I'm not going to make any more promises about when things are going to be posted because, as you can see, things come up! I know this chapter isn't super long, but I really hope you enjoyed it. It was really intense writing it anyway... well thanks so much for all the reviews! WOW 250! I'm mesmerized!! hehe, well REVIEW some more please!! ( I would love to get to 300... hint hint) :] Later days
