Chapter 10: After the Night Comes the Day
Lily woke up again after who knows how long. This time she felt almost fully revived but still weak. The first thought that ran through her head was James. It had been a couple of weeks since the two talked. As Lily stood up, she expected to look into a sneering Malfoy's face but found no black-eyed idiot. She stared out through the bars that confined her, wondering what had disturbed her out of her peace less sleep. She took a breath and walked forward, finding that her muscles ached from sleeping the wrong way what had happened that seemed only yesterday. She blinked, keeping her memories from pouring in. Lily studied the corridor outside her rat-infested cell. Empty plates, with only bits of food lay beside it. An empty chair stood up by the door, leading to the corridor that Lily's prison lay. Something silver was by her own cell. Something. A key! It layed unattended. She quickly grabbed for it, hoping against all hope, there wasn't a shield keeping her in.
~*~
Only weeks before
Daniel Fudge sat in a meeting. It had much significance. The man sitting beside him, with long greasy black hair and matching black eyes was Garold Snape. He was the minister's spy. Fudge had heard the whole story about him. Years ago, when he was only 15 Voldemort had requested him to become a deatheater. Not wanting to get involved in the soon-to-come war, the man refused. Little by little Voldemort killed off the Snape family until finally he hit 18. Snape got married to a Lydia Brow and they had children, a girl and a boy. The little girl died at birth but the little boy, now 15 lived on. Voldemort once again threatened Snape, that if he didn't join, he would finish killing the Snape family. Snape then became a deatheater, just as long as Voldemort would leave his family alone. He then visited Dumbledor, and became a spy for the ministry.
Over the year, he didn't bring in much helpful information. Suspicion grew against him but Dumbledor always believed him. Finally, after those long 15 years, he brought in information. There had been a rumor echoing in Voldemorts hide out for sometime. Snape had heard of 3 maybe 4 people. They went by the name of Demon Children. They were supposed to be very powerful in magic and strength. It was said that one had more beauty then a Veela. This rumor was quickly put to rest. All of them should be boys if they're so powerful.
The ministry had known where Voldemort's layer was for some time, but never acted on this knowledge. They had found it inefficient to go when Voldemort would just destroy them and clear out but now.
"He-who-must-not-be-named will evacuate without hurting any of our people. His "Demon Children", as Mr.Snape calls them, are much too precious to him. He'll want to keep them as a surprised for his 'upcoming attack', that Mr.Snape addressed earlier," A deep voice full of malice broke through Daniel's train of thought. It belonged to Oscer Gallient, a long time enemy of Garold Snape. He would never act on his hatred, because his job was much more important to him. He had to stay an Unspeakable. Oscer also didn't believe that the ministry is who Snape was loyal too. He believed that Snape was leading them astray.
"Nonsense! That evil. thing wouldn't care for anybody or anything if his life depended on it! If those whatever they're called dies, he wouldn't care! He would just walk away and forget!" Gillian Jork challenged. A ripple of conversation went through the room, until Albus Dumbledor stood up and motioned for quiet. After only a few moments, all eyes laid on the old man. His white hair stood against his velvety black robes that were worn because of the biting cold outside.
He spoke, his voice old but strong, "Mr. Galliant has a good point. If it has to do with Voldemort's plans, nothing will go to waste. These Demon Children may not easily be replaced. They may be a bit more important. 15 years ago from July 10th, 3 children were kidnapped. One of which was a Ravenclaw, the other two's records have been lost. All we know about them is the hospital they went to and that they were taken July 10th. The three hospitals were soon burned down, but Ms. Ravenclaw's information had already been transported to the ministry. Their missing cases are yet to be solved, I'm afraid, but there might just be a connection between these DemonChildren and the three kidnapped children." Another wave of conversation spread through the room again, but was silenced when Dumbledor held up his hand. "Earlier, when I was told about the meeting, I asked Mr. Fargisen to get me the papers on the child."
The talked about man stood up and picked up his new looking briefcase. His hands stumbled over the locks as he twisted them back and forth, his eyes searching for a certain number. Everybody in the room curiously watched him. There was total silence, except for the two men whispering beside Daniel.
"What's that?" One man asked. Daniel guessed that this one was an auror by the rank on his chest. "I've never seen anything like it! It's astounding. A twisty thingy. What does it do?" This man was obviously in a pureblood family.
The man beside him grunted in frustration. "You idiot, we learned this in muggle studies in 3RD YEAR! It's a lock, a muggle tool!"
"1st or 2nd semester?" The 1st man asked.
"1st," The 2nd man responded, furiously.
"Oh. That's why I don't know what a muggle lock looks like. I slept through that semester! This is taking too long, I never want a muggle lock." The two men's conversation was cut short by the click of the opening of the lock. A screech could be heard through the room as Mr.Fargisen opened up his suitcase that obviously had unoiled hinges. He shuffled through a bunch of different colored documents, and finally pulled out a couple of white papers. He shakily handed the old man the important papers, who smiled and took them without hesitation. He pulled out a pair of half moon glasses that he scooted onto the rim of his nose.
The headmaster cleared his voice then spoke, "Lilliana Ember Ravenclaw, daughter of Veela Brooke Ravenclaw and Joel Vinny Ravenclaw. Female." Dumbledor looked around at the bored faces, then continued, "We took her birth record and a blood sample to a wizard scientist and he told us that she has the blood of Rowena Ravenclaw and there's something else. Something that they couldn't figure out." This perked all the workers up. "It's gone through all specialists, but it's befuddled everyone-"
"Why bother?" Gillian cut in. "She's probably dead by now anyway."
"If she's dead, the prophecy can not be fulfilled." Dumbledor's voice had an edge to it now. Everyone had a dumbfounded look on his or her face. "Do you not remember it? I've required all 7th years to memorize it for the end of the years to memorize it for the end of the year exam. It's important for them to know what will determine their fate. Let me quote:
'In an age where evil is among good, A hero shall rise up. Aided by his mother, The Child of Good shall defeat the Horror of Evil. Without the Angel of Life though, the Child of Good dies early. No hope will then be with muggle and magic alike. For it is only those two who can save humanity, For the time being.'"
Gillian spoke up again, "How does this have anything to do with Ravenclaw's descendent? I mean it doesn't mention who this 'Angel of Light' is nor the 'Child of Good'."
Oscer Galliant argued, "Do you not know your prophecies man? The prophecy the professor spoke of has a direct connection with another by the name, 'Angel of Life.'
'The four founders united, made a difference in the world. The four descendents of these founders, at the right time, will make an even greater difference then before. If they are to unite under darkness, the night shall prevail, but under light, the day will stay. If luck has it for the opposite of what the they unite under, they shall doubt their master early, and rebel, or they find more in what they have grown up to hate. These Demon Children or Angels of Life shall take care of all.'"
Gillian glared at Oscer, who smiled smugly.
Dumbledor cleared his throat, a smile played at his lips and there was a twinkle in his eyes. "Thank you gentlemen. As I was saying, these Demon Children must be descendents of the founders, as it says in the prophecy."
"What about the fourth one?" Daniel cut in. "You only mentioned three children." Dumbledor's small smile faded into a grave look.
"I am unsure abo9ut him. I have only one guess as to whom he is, but it is imposturous, and I will not give out information that I am unsure of." There were no more questions on these questions on this subject; instead the whole room was quite for none had seen the professor without a smile. "Now, we have established the fact that Voldemort won't stick around to kill us, if we attack. Instead he will take the Demon Children and run, either that, or make sure they are safe from our vision. He does have a habit to make his plans known when the time is right and never before." Daniel nodded in agreement. "We must take advantage of every weakness we can find and this is a weakness. Is there going to be an attack or not?" He directed this question to the Minister of Magic, Charles Wright.
"Charles, a fat, thick necked man with kind gray eyes and wavy blond hair, rubbed his finely shaved chin. He stood up, showing a height of 7'0 and back and forth through the room a few times before stopping and studying the rest of the group's faces. He looked old for the age of 40 because of all the stress on his shoulders. Charles licked his chap lips, then coughed, and sat down. He licked his lips a few more times before clearing his throat and speaking, "I think. I agree with Dumble- Albus." He nodded towards Dumbledore, "We need to act on his weaknesses, and otherwise, we will not come on top. When will everything be organized?" Now he was looking towards Daniel. Daniel paused, quickly calculating everything out in his head.
"In three weeks."
He then faced Zack Gal, "Can the Unspeakables match that time?" A quick nod came from the brown haired man. "Good. Then we will attack September 21, 1981. Record that." He said, casting his eyes onto the Matt Jenkins, the recorder, who quickly scribbled the information down. "Meeting adjourned."
With those words said, Daniel disappeared through the doorway, a lot on his mind.
~*~
Lily slipped her hands through the bars, relief washed through her, no blocking curse. Her pallor hand fell onto the cold, silver key, which she then picked up. Her lips curved into a smile, as she pushed it into the key lock. Lily twisted it until finally, she heard a click. She was free. The red head pushed the prison door open and stepped through. Her sparkling green eyes searched the vicinity, hoping for different robes. She had to get new robes, so that a stray deatheater wouldn't recognize her. There were none.
Walking into the next room, Lily kept searching. There was one more thing she had to do before she left this place forever. She had to retrieve her journal. Lily pulled off her shoe quickly to make sure that the charred button and gem were still there. She was in luck! They hadn't searched her. Putting her show back on, Lily took off running, on her way to her old room, hoping against hope that her journal was still there.
~*~
James stared around a circular room. A group of men in black robes with ranking pins on their chests stood around him. One woman with white robes had just entered, and was holding a vile with a clear, bubbly potion in it, that James recognized to be a Truth potion. Suddenly a large brown door that matched the mahogany room creaked open, and another man stepped in. He had a head full of white hair and a long white beard to match. His crystal blue eyes sparkled and a faint, reassuring smile played at his lips. He seemed kind, and James knew immediately that his intentions weren't to hurt him. He walked over and stood in front of James.
"I am Albus Dumbledor, this is a Truth potion. Now, all it will do is make you tell the truth to all my questions out of the knowledge you have." James nodded. The old man gently took the potion from the scowling woman. "Please drink this." James struggled to take it from him, but realized that ropes bound his hands. The man tipped the vile into James mouth. He could feel the burning sensation as it worked its way to his voice box and took over his mouth muscles and into a part of his brain. This would not last forever.
"What's your full name?"
"James Godric Potter."
"Good, no struggle. Are there an charms or curses on you?"
"Yes, a silencing charm."
"For?"
"I can't say anything that has to do with the dark lord and his plans."
"Intentions?"
"To escape Voldemort."
"Why were you in jail at his hide out?"
"I'm a traitor to Voldemort."
"Have you ever murdered or have you done anything a common or worse deatheater would do?"
"No, I was in training."
"For?" James said nothing. That knowledge was locked inside his mind by a blocking charm and a silencing charm plus another number of charms to keep anything or anyone from that information. "Blocked?"
"Yes."
"Any deatheaters you recognized.. Can you give me their names?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"It's blocked."
"Well then. Can you point them out?"
"No."
"How old are you?"
"15."
"Why aren't you in school?"
"That was apart of my training."
"Did you voluntarily become a deatheater?"
"No."
"How do you become involved?"
"I don't know. I've been involved for as long as I can remember." James missed the glance exchanged by another man and this Dumbledore.
"Are you willing to start going to school at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"
"More than willing."
"Would you ever go back to Voldemort?"
James eyes widened and a fearful look came upon his face, "Never, NEVER!" Dumbledor nodded and that familiar scritch-scratch could be heard, it had been going on the whole time. He nodded to the rest and him and two others stepped outside. This left the man with the notebook and pen, and two others who were standing in front of the brown door. All eyes were on James now, and he could feel a sweat drip running down his face.
~*~
Albus Dumbledor, Charles Wright, and Garold Snape stood outside the door discussing the teen's case.
"He seems innocent enough," Charles began. "Have you heard anything about him, Garold?" Snape shook his head. "He WAS on a truth potion as well. What do you say Albus, you're good at judging people."
"I'm positive he's innocent. If he weren't, all those answers would have been different." Snape and Wright nodded.
"He needs to go to school," Snape put in, a soft look replaced his usually cold one. The rest nodded.
"I'll offer him a place at Hogwarts," Dumbledore smiled. The boy's future looked pretty bright. "Come, let's tell him the good news."
~*~
James watched the men as they filed in. Each had a small smile on his face, which meant hope. James looked at Dumbledor with a hope-filled face.
"Mr.Potter, would you like to come to Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" James quickly nodded, excitedly. He was going to go to a real school. Dumbledor pulled a long, light-brown thin wand out of his velvety- black pocket and waved it, muttering a spell under his breath. In the blink of an eye, the bindings disappeared and James jumped up, smiling. "Ready to go?"
"Of couse!"
"Then let's floo," James agreed with him, and the two set off down a blue- painted hallway.
He was free.
~*~
Lily made her way down a gray-stoned hallway. At first, she had had a hard time finding her way around the castle because, she had never been by the dungeons before but now that she had found something recognizable, she would find her room. In fact, she was now nearing her old room where she hoped her journal would still be. The large charm in her shoe was becoming unbearable. It was starting to make her limp. She would have to rid herself of the pain, even though she knew she couldn't waste anymore time.
Making up her mind, Lily placed one hand on the stone wall and pulled up her leg, from there she pulled off her shoe and pulled out the gem. As she attempted to put her shoe back on she lost her balance and fell to the ground. Unfortunately, her right ankle twisted the wrong way and Lily had to hold in a high-pitch scream because of the suddenness of the piercing pain. Lily let herself rest for only a moment before hoisting herself up with her left ankle and hand. Lily slipped the gem into her robe pocket with her sweaty hands. She painfully limped to her room the rest of the way. She could feel each step that was made by her right foot.
Once she reached the door, she immediately threw it open. When she opened it, she found everything strewn around. Her bed was over by her small window. Lily's closet of clothes were strewn around, and searched. She quickly ran to the only loose floorboard and ripped it off, finding, to her relief, the pack of papers, only a bit strewn out but obviously not searched. The walking on the floor must have disturbed it. She picked the papers up, and bound them with a spell, then pushed them into her pocket.
Lily then pulled her bed off her window and looked out it. The wall outside her window had bricks sticking out of it in a pattern made by magic to indicate a latter. She stared at it wondering whether she should use it or not, her ankle might make her fall. but if she apperated now, they could track her. If she went out the front door, they might be waiting for her but this. This, no one but her, James, and Nick knew about. Nick. No, this was her only chance.
Lily took a deep breath, then pulled her self out of the window. Lily went down a couple of steps, each time her right foot hit a step, she would inhale deeply. When she hit her 6th step, she slipped. Grabbing onto the step that she had already passed, she hung there limply, until she could finally gain enough energy to gain her footing, which, when she did, she hurried down the rest of the steps keeping her right foot on it as little as possible. They hadn't used her window the night they tried to escape because there had been deatheaters patrolling that night. Finally she hit the ground and apperated.
She was free.
Lily woke up again after who knows how long. This time she felt almost fully revived but still weak. The first thought that ran through her head was James. It had been a couple of weeks since the two talked. As Lily stood up, she expected to look into a sneering Malfoy's face but found no black-eyed idiot. She stared out through the bars that confined her, wondering what had disturbed her out of her peace less sleep. She took a breath and walked forward, finding that her muscles ached from sleeping the wrong way what had happened that seemed only yesterday. She blinked, keeping her memories from pouring in. Lily studied the corridor outside her rat-infested cell. Empty plates, with only bits of food lay beside it. An empty chair stood up by the door, leading to the corridor that Lily's prison lay. Something silver was by her own cell. Something. A key! It layed unattended. She quickly grabbed for it, hoping against all hope, there wasn't a shield keeping her in.
~*~
Only weeks before
Daniel Fudge sat in a meeting. It had much significance. The man sitting beside him, with long greasy black hair and matching black eyes was Garold Snape. He was the minister's spy. Fudge had heard the whole story about him. Years ago, when he was only 15 Voldemort had requested him to become a deatheater. Not wanting to get involved in the soon-to-come war, the man refused. Little by little Voldemort killed off the Snape family until finally he hit 18. Snape got married to a Lydia Brow and they had children, a girl and a boy. The little girl died at birth but the little boy, now 15 lived on. Voldemort once again threatened Snape, that if he didn't join, he would finish killing the Snape family. Snape then became a deatheater, just as long as Voldemort would leave his family alone. He then visited Dumbledor, and became a spy for the ministry.
Over the year, he didn't bring in much helpful information. Suspicion grew against him but Dumbledor always believed him. Finally, after those long 15 years, he brought in information. There had been a rumor echoing in Voldemorts hide out for sometime. Snape had heard of 3 maybe 4 people. They went by the name of Demon Children. They were supposed to be very powerful in magic and strength. It was said that one had more beauty then a Veela. This rumor was quickly put to rest. All of them should be boys if they're so powerful.
The ministry had known where Voldemort's layer was for some time, but never acted on this knowledge. They had found it inefficient to go when Voldemort would just destroy them and clear out but now.
"He-who-must-not-be-named will evacuate without hurting any of our people. His "Demon Children", as Mr.Snape calls them, are much too precious to him. He'll want to keep them as a surprised for his 'upcoming attack', that Mr.Snape addressed earlier," A deep voice full of malice broke through Daniel's train of thought. It belonged to Oscer Gallient, a long time enemy of Garold Snape. He would never act on his hatred, because his job was much more important to him. He had to stay an Unspeakable. Oscer also didn't believe that the ministry is who Snape was loyal too. He believed that Snape was leading them astray.
"Nonsense! That evil. thing wouldn't care for anybody or anything if his life depended on it! If those whatever they're called dies, he wouldn't care! He would just walk away and forget!" Gillian Jork challenged. A ripple of conversation went through the room, until Albus Dumbledor stood up and motioned for quiet. After only a few moments, all eyes laid on the old man. His white hair stood against his velvety black robes that were worn because of the biting cold outside.
He spoke, his voice old but strong, "Mr. Galliant has a good point. If it has to do with Voldemort's plans, nothing will go to waste. These Demon Children may not easily be replaced. They may be a bit more important. 15 years ago from July 10th, 3 children were kidnapped. One of which was a Ravenclaw, the other two's records have been lost. All we know about them is the hospital they went to and that they were taken July 10th. The three hospitals were soon burned down, but Ms. Ravenclaw's information had already been transported to the ministry. Their missing cases are yet to be solved, I'm afraid, but there might just be a connection between these DemonChildren and the three kidnapped children." Another wave of conversation spread through the room again, but was silenced when Dumbledor held up his hand. "Earlier, when I was told about the meeting, I asked Mr. Fargisen to get me the papers on the child."
The talked about man stood up and picked up his new looking briefcase. His hands stumbled over the locks as he twisted them back and forth, his eyes searching for a certain number. Everybody in the room curiously watched him. There was total silence, except for the two men whispering beside Daniel.
"What's that?" One man asked. Daniel guessed that this one was an auror by the rank on his chest. "I've never seen anything like it! It's astounding. A twisty thingy. What does it do?" This man was obviously in a pureblood family.
The man beside him grunted in frustration. "You idiot, we learned this in muggle studies in 3RD YEAR! It's a lock, a muggle tool!"
"1st or 2nd semester?" The 1st man asked.
"1st," The 2nd man responded, furiously.
"Oh. That's why I don't know what a muggle lock looks like. I slept through that semester! This is taking too long, I never want a muggle lock." The two men's conversation was cut short by the click of the opening of the lock. A screech could be heard through the room as Mr.Fargisen opened up his suitcase that obviously had unoiled hinges. He shuffled through a bunch of different colored documents, and finally pulled out a couple of white papers. He shakily handed the old man the important papers, who smiled and took them without hesitation. He pulled out a pair of half moon glasses that he scooted onto the rim of his nose.
The headmaster cleared his voice then spoke, "Lilliana Ember Ravenclaw, daughter of Veela Brooke Ravenclaw and Joel Vinny Ravenclaw. Female." Dumbledor looked around at the bored faces, then continued, "We took her birth record and a blood sample to a wizard scientist and he told us that she has the blood of Rowena Ravenclaw and there's something else. Something that they couldn't figure out." This perked all the workers up. "It's gone through all specialists, but it's befuddled everyone-"
"Why bother?" Gillian cut in. "She's probably dead by now anyway."
"If she's dead, the prophecy can not be fulfilled." Dumbledor's voice had an edge to it now. Everyone had a dumbfounded look on his or her face. "Do you not remember it? I've required all 7th years to memorize it for the end of the years to memorize it for the end of the year exam. It's important for them to know what will determine their fate. Let me quote:
'In an age where evil is among good, A hero shall rise up. Aided by his mother, The Child of Good shall defeat the Horror of Evil. Without the Angel of Life though, the Child of Good dies early. No hope will then be with muggle and magic alike. For it is only those two who can save humanity, For the time being.'"
Gillian spoke up again, "How does this have anything to do with Ravenclaw's descendent? I mean it doesn't mention who this 'Angel of Light' is nor the 'Child of Good'."
Oscer Galliant argued, "Do you not know your prophecies man? The prophecy the professor spoke of has a direct connection with another by the name, 'Angel of Life.'
'The four founders united, made a difference in the world. The four descendents of these founders, at the right time, will make an even greater difference then before. If they are to unite under darkness, the night shall prevail, but under light, the day will stay. If luck has it for the opposite of what the they unite under, they shall doubt their master early, and rebel, or they find more in what they have grown up to hate. These Demon Children or Angels of Life shall take care of all.'"
Gillian glared at Oscer, who smiled smugly.
Dumbledor cleared his throat, a smile played at his lips and there was a twinkle in his eyes. "Thank you gentlemen. As I was saying, these Demon Children must be descendents of the founders, as it says in the prophecy."
"What about the fourth one?" Daniel cut in. "You only mentioned three children." Dumbledor's small smile faded into a grave look.
"I am unsure abo9ut him. I have only one guess as to whom he is, but it is imposturous, and I will not give out information that I am unsure of." There were no more questions on these questions on this subject; instead the whole room was quite for none had seen the professor without a smile. "Now, we have established the fact that Voldemort won't stick around to kill us, if we attack. Instead he will take the Demon Children and run, either that, or make sure they are safe from our vision. He does have a habit to make his plans known when the time is right and never before." Daniel nodded in agreement. "We must take advantage of every weakness we can find and this is a weakness. Is there going to be an attack or not?" He directed this question to the Minister of Magic, Charles Wright.
"Charles, a fat, thick necked man with kind gray eyes and wavy blond hair, rubbed his finely shaved chin. He stood up, showing a height of 7'0 and back and forth through the room a few times before stopping and studying the rest of the group's faces. He looked old for the age of 40 because of all the stress on his shoulders. Charles licked his chap lips, then coughed, and sat down. He licked his lips a few more times before clearing his throat and speaking, "I think. I agree with Dumble- Albus." He nodded towards Dumbledore, "We need to act on his weaknesses, and otherwise, we will not come on top. When will everything be organized?" Now he was looking towards Daniel. Daniel paused, quickly calculating everything out in his head.
"In three weeks."
He then faced Zack Gal, "Can the Unspeakables match that time?" A quick nod came from the brown haired man. "Good. Then we will attack September 21, 1981. Record that." He said, casting his eyes onto the Matt Jenkins, the recorder, who quickly scribbled the information down. "Meeting adjourned."
With those words said, Daniel disappeared through the doorway, a lot on his mind.
~*~
Lily slipped her hands through the bars, relief washed through her, no blocking curse. Her pallor hand fell onto the cold, silver key, which she then picked up. Her lips curved into a smile, as she pushed it into the key lock. Lily twisted it until finally, she heard a click. She was free. The red head pushed the prison door open and stepped through. Her sparkling green eyes searched the vicinity, hoping for different robes. She had to get new robes, so that a stray deatheater wouldn't recognize her. There were none.
Walking into the next room, Lily kept searching. There was one more thing she had to do before she left this place forever. She had to retrieve her journal. Lily pulled off her shoe quickly to make sure that the charred button and gem were still there. She was in luck! They hadn't searched her. Putting her show back on, Lily took off running, on her way to her old room, hoping against hope that her journal was still there.
~*~
James stared around a circular room. A group of men in black robes with ranking pins on their chests stood around him. One woman with white robes had just entered, and was holding a vile with a clear, bubbly potion in it, that James recognized to be a Truth potion. Suddenly a large brown door that matched the mahogany room creaked open, and another man stepped in. He had a head full of white hair and a long white beard to match. His crystal blue eyes sparkled and a faint, reassuring smile played at his lips. He seemed kind, and James knew immediately that his intentions weren't to hurt him. He walked over and stood in front of James.
"I am Albus Dumbledor, this is a Truth potion. Now, all it will do is make you tell the truth to all my questions out of the knowledge you have." James nodded. The old man gently took the potion from the scowling woman. "Please drink this." James struggled to take it from him, but realized that ropes bound his hands. The man tipped the vile into James mouth. He could feel the burning sensation as it worked its way to his voice box and took over his mouth muscles and into a part of his brain. This would not last forever.
"What's your full name?"
"James Godric Potter."
"Good, no struggle. Are there an charms or curses on you?"
"Yes, a silencing charm."
"For?"
"I can't say anything that has to do with the dark lord and his plans."
"Intentions?"
"To escape Voldemort."
"Why were you in jail at his hide out?"
"I'm a traitor to Voldemort."
"Have you ever murdered or have you done anything a common or worse deatheater would do?"
"No, I was in training."
"For?" James said nothing. That knowledge was locked inside his mind by a blocking charm and a silencing charm plus another number of charms to keep anything or anyone from that information. "Blocked?"
"Yes."
"Any deatheaters you recognized.. Can you give me their names?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"It's blocked."
"Well then. Can you point them out?"
"No."
"How old are you?"
"15."
"Why aren't you in school?"
"That was apart of my training."
"Did you voluntarily become a deatheater?"
"No."
"How do you become involved?"
"I don't know. I've been involved for as long as I can remember." James missed the glance exchanged by another man and this Dumbledore.
"Are you willing to start going to school at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"
"More than willing."
"Would you ever go back to Voldemort?"
James eyes widened and a fearful look came upon his face, "Never, NEVER!" Dumbledor nodded and that familiar scritch-scratch could be heard, it had been going on the whole time. He nodded to the rest and him and two others stepped outside. This left the man with the notebook and pen, and two others who were standing in front of the brown door. All eyes were on James now, and he could feel a sweat drip running down his face.
~*~
Albus Dumbledor, Charles Wright, and Garold Snape stood outside the door discussing the teen's case.
"He seems innocent enough," Charles began. "Have you heard anything about him, Garold?" Snape shook his head. "He WAS on a truth potion as well. What do you say Albus, you're good at judging people."
"I'm positive he's innocent. If he weren't, all those answers would have been different." Snape and Wright nodded.
"He needs to go to school," Snape put in, a soft look replaced his usually cold one. The rest nodded.
"I'll offer him a place at Hogwarts," Dumbledore smiled. The boy's future looked pretty bright. "Come, let's tell him the good news."
~*~
James watched the men as they filed in. Each had a small smile on his face, which meant hope. James looked at Dumbledor with a hope-filled face.
"Mr.Potter, would you like to come to Hogwarts, school of Witchcraft and Wizardry?" James quickly nodded, excitedly. He was going to go to a real school. Dumbledor pulled a long, light-brown thin wand out of his velvety- black pocket and waved it, muttering a spell under his breath. In the blink of an eye, the bindings disappeared and James jumped up, smiling. "Ready to go?"
"Of couse!"
"Then let's floo," James agreed with him, and the two set off down a blue- painted hallway.
He was free.
~*~
Lily made her way down a gray-stoned hallway. At first, she had had a hard time finding her way around the castle because, she had never been by the dungeons before but now that she had found something recognizable, she would find her room. In fact, she was now nearing her old room where she hoped her journal would still be. The large charm in her shoe was becoming unbearable. It was starting to make her limp. She would have to rid herself of the pain, even though she knew she couldn't waste anymore time.
Making up her mind, Lily placed one hand on the stone wall and pulled up her leg, from there she pulled off her shoe and pulled out the gem. As she attempted to put her shoe back on she lost her balance and fell to the ground. Unfortunately, her right ankle twisted the wrong way and Lily had to hold in a high-pitch scream because of the suddenness of the piercing pain. Lily let herself rest for only a moment before hoisting herself up with her left ankle and hand. Lily slipped the gem into her robe pocket with her sweaty hands. She painfully limped to her room the rest of the way. She could feel each step that was made by her right foot.
Once she reached the door, she immediately threw it open. When she opened it, she found everything strewn around. Her bed was over by her small window. Lily's closet of clothes were strewn around, and searched. She quickly ran to the only loose floorboard and ripped it off, finding, to her relief, the pack of papers, only a bit strewn out but obviously not searched. The walking on the floor must have disturbed it. She picked the papers up, and bound them with a spell, then pushed them into her pocket.
Lily then pulled her bed off her window and looked out it. The wall outside her window had bricks sticking out of it in a pattern made by magic to indicate a latter. She stared at it wondering whether she should use it or not, her ankle might make her fall. but if she apperated now, they could track her. If she went out the front door, they might be waiting for her but this. This, no one but her, James, and Nick knew about. Nick. No, this was her only chance.
Lily took a deep breath, then pulled her self out of the window. Lily went down a couple of steps, each time her right foot hit a step, she would inhale deeply. When she hit her 6th step, she slipped. Grabbing onto the step that she had already passed, she hung there limply, until she could finally gain enough energy to gain her footing, which, when she did, she hurried down the rest of the steps keeping her right foot on it as little as possible. They hadn't used her window the night they tried to escape because there had been deatheaters patrolling that night. Finally she hit the ground and apperated.
She was free.