Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters you recognise in this fictional story belonging to Joanne Kathleen Rowling, Warner Bros., and whoever else…Bloomsbury and Scholastic. Some characters are based on childhood friends, I made them into this fiction therefore I own them. I also own the plot. And the dates… coz they're terribly wrong. I also don't own the pretty song… *looks down* ('Shade'- Silverchair)
If you're hurt
Why don't you tell someone
Don't feel bad
You're not the only one, yeah
Don't go hiding
Hiding, in the shade
If you were abused
I'll find someone to help you
I know you were used
What are you gonna' do
Yeah...
Chapter VIII- [Blunt]
Lily was again left speechless, she couldn't believe it, Ernie was dead…gone forever, who would she come to for advise? now she had no one to turn to for comfort. Ernie…she would be lost without his help. That was all she could think about. She stood in the hospital car park and watched Ministry wizards come and go, taking Ernie's body with them…
She slowly walked back into the limousine and told the driver to take her back to the Society Building.
Lily felt as if she had run out of tears… she wanted to cry, really she did. But she couldn't. Was it possible to be too sad to cry? To be too beside yourself in sorrow to even leak one single tear?
That's how she felt then and there, today she had lost one of her loved ones and nearly had lost another. If she hadn't reacted that way in front of the Potters…
Oh Remus…DAMN YOU! you know more about me then you let out today…how did you find out? you're in danger now…and now that Ernie's gone who knows who'll replace him, he might not let you off with just a memory charm like Hagrid…you don't know what you've got yourself into…
When they arrived, the society had already found out and everybody in the building were solemn, to all Extreme Aurors; since they had no other contacts…they had him as a father most of the time.
Tawny, the receptionist at the desk came rushing toward her when Lily had first came in while blowing her overly large nose, "excuse me…your supposed to identify yourself at my desk, who are you? *sniff…blow*"
Lily looked at her, took out her wand, "I'm an E.A. here…I identified myself at the door, I don't need to you to talk to me right now…it'd be best you leave me be." She said coldly.
"*blow* oh my… dear, did you hear? Oh… you must've, I'm sorry love, and I bet you were close."
"Hmm…"
Once she got to her office, she just sat in silence…
~*~*~
Remus felt a pang in his conscience as he left Lily standing there so devastated, but he felt that was what he had to do…Lily has successfully hidden from all her friends for 5 long years, he decided with himself that he wouldn't tell anyone else until he has her sorted out.
He didn't see a reason why Lily would have gone to join the ministry's special forces, it was just one big puzzle and Remus had just opened up the box, he had to fit all the pieces of 'why?' first before presenting the finished project to his friends. He could tell them now, he guessed but then again; he didn't want to pull James or anyone else through too much. Even though telling them would give them hope, it would also bring stress and need a lot of patience…so that ruled out Sirius, James and Sarah…well, that ruled out everyone. He had to sort it out himself, he had to do it all alone…
Remus made his way towards James, he gave him a questioning glance, "Toilet break" Remus replied without missing a beat. That's the way it had to be from now on… oh boy.
James smirked, "There's a toilet a few doors down you know?"
"Now you tell me!" Remus said with wide eyes.
"Yeah well, my bad" James said stretching his legs out onto the hall way.
Remus looked at the closed door of Sarah's room then at James but without a question James said, "Sedatives…I don't know where she got all that energy from, she looks like a twig…but she's hysterical…she's a hysterical twig" he said shaking his head. "but I'm glad she is going to be okay, you could just see it in her eyes just then."
"Ministry Ball is the day after tomorrow…reckon she'll be able to go?"
"She'd want to and I reckon she will…all she has to do is convince her parents, God help her"
Remus nodded his head slowly "So who'll be there? At the ball I mean? It won't be postponed because of Mr. Banks do you think?"
James shook his head, "No…it shouldn't, you know what? I feel like I should be more sorrowful and saddened of his death, but I don't know I just- no words can describe it, I should feel solemn, I knew the man all my life (not that I really got to know him) but now that Sarah's awake I'm happy but sad because she didn't trust me but then again…ugh…"
"James…I think you're just a little muddled up with emotions here…but that happens with everyone. But for some reason I don't think it's because she didn't trust you…"
James sighed, "That's what I thought too…life was so much better and easier at Hogwarts"
"Well, no one said life would get easier after Hogwarts…even though we were pretty convinced it would." Remus said, knowing not telling James about Lily was the best he could do, James seemed like a total wreck, "So…you never answered my question James"
"Oh right…well, the minister of magic, important people you know…like Aurors…oh and Extreme Aurors…although I'm sure they'll come in disguise, they never go anywhere without disguise. Dumbledore, yes… he will be there and I guess some teachers as well, since it's not school time. Members of different departments of the whole ministry… important families…like well, you know" James said that word with a total blank face, "and special overseas guests and friends with connections I uses, you get the id-" James was interrupted as he looked from Remus to across the hall way; Sirius was walking with his head down, his eyes widened as he saw a bright red stains on his clothes and hands with smudges of dirt, "Sirius?!" James called out, but Sirius didn't seem to notice, he turned toward the sink on his left and started to wash his hands.
James stood up and half skidded towards him. "Sirius, wha?-" He touched his shoulder but Sirius shrugged it away.
Remus was quite shocked so he stood up too, he and James shared a very astonished look, but Sirius did not seem hurt, just very weary, he said in a clear yet shaken voice, "Hey guys…"
"Sirius" Remus said a bit cautiously, "what happened?"
Sirius turned more pressure on the tap and shook his head, "I'm not sure…"
Remus and James exchanged looks, Remus spoke up, "Sirius…Where did you go? do you remember anything?" Remus touched his shoulder but Sirius shrugged it away again.
"Don't jump to anything logical Moony" He growled then continued more softly, "I'm sorry…I think I'm just in shock"
Remus gave him a weird glance, "You aren't sorry…"
"Is that blood Sirius?" James blurted out.
Sirius sat down and leaned his head against the cream walls, "I didn't kill anyone or anything so calm down, but it is blood James…but not my own and what I saw, I just…she- she j-just looked at me blankly, then she fell, it was the most confusing no the scariest thing, she- I don't know what happened, she doesn't know who she is…I called out her name but she didn't know-" Sirius looked up to the ceiling, "What kind of friends are we? After all the thing with Sarah we haven't told Peter, Adele or Calista…it's like we've cut them off completely"
After a long silence Remus and James didn't know what to say, Sirius started to retell his story, "I was walking down the street-" Sirius told them everything to the end. "she doesn't know who she is…and I have no idea what happened to her, "
"Who could have done that to her? " James asked angrily.
Sirius shook his head, "I don't know…"
"Where is she now?" Remus asked.
"Emergency surgery, she hit her head pretty bad…I came here once she went into surgery… there's nothing we can do but wait now…Adele wasn't in sight… and Peter's gone off the face of the earth."
Remus put his head in his hands, "This has to be one of the most longest day of my whole life. Sirius… Mr. Banks is dead."
"What?"
Remus sighed and replied, "He's dead, but things aren't very clear at the moment. I found him in an ally, he died before anyone could save him…"
"I don't understand…" Sirius muttered, "how could this have happened?"
"An attack from behind maybe…" Remus said.
"No Remus, everything…today… of all days… and we're all being so blunt about everything! God…it's like I don't know what to feel anymore…" Sirius stressed.
Remus and James had to agree.
~*~*~
Severus Snape was ready for the Ministry ball, he knew where to find Lily…and he had to talk to her. Considering she was an extreme Auror she could be very clumsy at times. All things were very complicated now, he was all set for his career he was an assistant Potions master occasionally going to Hogwarts and after Professor Liquor retired he was to take over. Which wasn't very much later seeing as Liquor was leaving after the next year. The pressure to join the dark side was growing. Nearly all his friends were deatheaters now, he didn't want to join but he knew being who he was, joining was inevitable, it would soon come to the point of 'join or die a horrible death'. He didn't know what to do.
He was walking down Diagon Ally, he had stocked up at the epocathary and was now heading back to Hogwarts. he picked up a copy of the daily prophet, he certainly did not expect this! The heading: Ernie Banks: Dead. His jaw dropped.
~*~*~
When Lily came back from registration on level 64, she found a small note on her desk.
Ernie's office…now – Thomas Lee.
Thomas Lee or Tom was another Extreme Auror. There were about 15 other Extreme Aurors that worked for Ernie and out of all of them.
Lily had never befriended a single one, she avoided them, she only knew one of the other Extreme Aurors real names and that was Thomas Lee though she had never met him, she only talked with Ernie for those years she worked with him. Why? She didn't really know…
She made her way toward the big French doors leading into Ernie's office. For the first time she saw all 15 other Extreme Aurors, she knew they were all about her age; once you turn 30 you have to retire, a regulation they all agreed with seeing as how much work they did. But some of them looked quite old.
All the other Extreme Aurors were sitting around the long table in their respective places, when Lily walked in, their heads turned toward her, there was a moment of silence, "Hi" she almost squeaked.
A young man in tight black leather with green hair in spikes and three nose rings stood up, "Hello, I'm presuming you are code: 3564758? I'm 3547112"
Lily's eyes went a bit wide as she looked at him, "Hello, yes I am-…how about you call me Lily?"
3547112 smiled and replied, "Ok Lily, I'm Thomas Lee, call me Tom. I sent you the note, please take a seat…
Lily nodded and sat at her seat beside the head of the table, opposite Tom.
Tom spoke up again, "This is the first time we have seen you, we have been waiting for you to come here so we can presume our true forms" He muttered a spell under his breath and his appearance changed, his nose rings disappeared, he grew several inches and grew blonde hair. After he changed, everyone else did, to Lily's surprise; Tom's and everyone else's reformations took several seconds. Odd, their reformations take quite some time
Then all eyes were on her, Lily looked around, they were all so young, they definitely knew about Ernie; they had the same inside look of unregistered shock and sorrow in their eyes. Lily recognised some from Hogwarts a couple of years ahead of her. She figured she had to reform back to her normal appearance.
~*~*~
Malfoy had taken order now, he ordered a deatheater to take Pettigrew away, the power emitting from Zabulus and his master was too much, everyone stood back and watched their master suffering under the wrath of his most evilness. The devil had betrayed his master…the devil was taking his master's soul and he couldn't do anything but watch…
Lucius Malfoy looked at his older brother Atrox take order, why wasn't he helping his own master? Lucius stormed toward Atrox and shouted, "Atrox, we have to save him!" He made a motion to go forward but Atrox held him back.
"Little brother, stop." Atrox stopped him easily; he was so much bigger then he was, "This is out of your league and mine, and we can't fight the Devil himself, he is the evil of all evil. There's nothing we can do now…"
Lucius stopped, he really looked up to his brother, a lot. He squinted as he saw a white mist flow out of his master and into a held out glass bottle held by Zabulus.
He was pretty new to the ranks of all the other Deatheaters but he was one of Voldemort's top followers, he stood beside his brother. Not only did Lucius did he look up to Atrox, he looked up to Voldemort, being the person he grew into, becoming so powerful, Lucius wished he had that kind of power.
He was on the dark lord's side because he respected him. He couldn't bare it much longer, the man he respected was just going to die…get his soul taken away with all his followers staring at him like an alien being dissected.
Lucius bent down low, at least his master would have died with one follower respecting him. Atrox looked at his younger brother and hesistantly followed. Soon they were all bowing low to their master. Zabulus looked at him amused and shouted, "Thomas Marvolo Riddle! I see your fan club has planned to follow you to your pyre! Truly marvellous!"
Voldemort could barely breath, but he saw Lucius bow low, in his respect. Then all of his followers were bowing low, Lucius would get far one day…
"Do you see all your fans Riddle-deedee? All of them bowing down to you? Now forgive me for taking your soul, you know how I work… you didn't honestly think I would make a deal with you that easily did you?" Zabulus laughed, "Oh! You did! How sad…"
Lucius had to refrain himself from trying to kill the devil for doing that to his master. Atrox, sensing something he hissed to his brother, "Don't little brother, you've done well, you've done enough…"
Zabulus was enjoying himself, he found it quite amusing when that young Malfoy first went low. He decided he had enough fun, "Riddle, I think you know better now," and with that, Zabulus let the curse die and disappeared.
Atrox took command, "Deatheaters! Take your master to the healing chambers!"
Lucius looked on and soon left with his brother but as they took his master away, he could've sworn he had seen his master smile at him.
~*~*~
Sarah couldn't get to sleep, she had manage to talk the nurse out of giving her a sedative and said she would sleep on her own. But all she did was lay on her back looking up at the ceiling.
The ball was coming up, Sarah planned to go too, she hadn't seen her parents just yet but she was just so energized with hope, Lily was alive, she was a nurse here!
Then she frowned, why didn't the nurse know of any other nurse with the description of Lily? Lily had to be there, she had the same uniform…but how did she save her from death? she had to know…
The nurse uniform was still pretty fresh in her mind, in 7th year Lily and her had read up an ancient book of spells, they found it at the beginning of the year and had fully memorized it by the end. One of the spells was to check was someone was dead or not, also seeing how they died and when. Although, they had never tested it completely.
It was a brilliant idea, why hadn't she thought of it before? She had completely forgotten about the book! She'd have to solve the puzzle, start from the roots.
Sarah rubbed her eyes and snuggled into the blankets.
I'm going to the ball… I have to…and I have to talk to Ernie, tell him I've changed my mind. I need a nurse uniform and my strength…
She yawned and shortly after: fell into a deep sleep.
~*~*~
"-all right Miss Bell, what do you remember?"
"Who are you talking to?" Calista winced as she felt the heavy bandages on her head.
The doctor sighed and took a nurse aside, "This is worse than we thought, half an hour ago you told her what her name was, am I correct?"
"Yes doctor, I told her, her age, name, where she lived… she doesn't seem to remember a thing"
"Does she remember who took her here?"
" I told her a Mr. Sirius Black brought her here, but she doesn't seem to recall anything about him"
"Right.. you've just confirmed the worst, she has no short term or long term memory so far… and two minutes after she is told something; she might forget it. She'll be like a gold fish, having a three second memory, we'll see how she is in half an hour, if she remembers thing that you have told her, be sure to contact me. Her mental stability might just be in so much more shock then we thought. She'll have to stay here…contact her foster parents, Mr. And Mrs. Chase I believe? We have to prepare for the worst. Also, I believe that Mr. Black knows Miss Bell, be sure to inform him. it will be a hard time for all who care for her."
~*~*~
"What the hell?!" Severus gasped. He almost dropped the paper, on the front page was a rather graphic image of Mr. Banks being carried by ministry wizards.
He rolled up his paper and walked into Hogsbreath café, he ordered a quadruple wizard deluxe club sandwitch (A/N: forgive me!) and reopened the article beside it.
Earlier today in the ally of a muggle hospital, Mr. Ernest Banks, the director of the special forces department of the ministry of magic was found 'stabbed' multiple times by a muggle knife, he was found by a nearby wizard who has asked to remain anonymous at this time.-
Severus diverted his eyes to the picture, he squinted his eyes at the dark figure in the background. He got a weird buzz in his stomach but was distracted; his meal had arrived.
~*~*~
"-She'll be like a goldfish, her memory that is…" Sirius finished off.
The three were down at the cafeteria having some coffee.
Remus shook his head, "The nurse told you that, in those words?"
Sirius nodded.
"Ugh… nurses today are so blunt" Remus said.
"So are we… well, lately…" James added, "who's going to tell Sarah…about Calista?"
Sirius and Remus looked at each other, "You." they said in unison to James.
James made a face, "… Since we feel so blunt, we'll get an old nurse to tell her"
"Why old?" Sirius questioned.
"Because they seem nicer?" Remus answered for James.
James nodded, "Exactly! You know…Sarah looks too thin, it's just bad… you guys noticed that?"
"Yeah, I know " Sirius stated.
"That was pretty blu-" Remus said until interrupted by James.
"I know, I feel really blunt too, ruthless…"
"So do we" Remus reminded him.
Sirius spoke up, "Let's just shut up and get ourselves together, in silence… I hate sounding so damn unemotional and blunt"
"Right."
~*~*~
When Sarah woke up and old nice-looking nurse was at her bedside, "Oh, hello dear, I'm afraid I have some bad news for you Miss Potter…"
…half an hour later…
She wiped her tears eyes as the old nurse patted her on the back and said "There, there dear…"
"I- I can't believe that happened to her! Who did it? Who found her?" She said worriedly. "Do her parents know? Does Adele know?"
"oh… I'm afraid it is unknown who did that to her, but a young man who knew her found her delirious on the street…her parents are meeting with the doctor tomorrow- no it's been changed they've seen him already. I don't know of an Adele dear…"
Sarah furrowed her eyebrows, "Oh…Who was the man? What was his name?"
"A Mr. …oh my memory! starting with an S… last name Blark? No… maybe I've got it wrong"
"Do you mean Sirius Black?"
"Oh yes! That's it! I'm so sorry about your friend dear…"
When the nurse left Sarah found a bag of clothes beside her, she sat up slowly and started to dress into a pair of jeans and a purple longsleeved top, she cringed at how skinny she had became.
She slowly walked out of the door holding on to nearly anything and everything to stop her from falling over because she was so weak, first she was going to visit Calista then she was going to get her some nurse uniform from …somewhere.
After about 10 metres she was exhausted. She sat down on a white plastic chair and looked around helplessly.
Then she saw it, in all it's glory… She was a few steps away from a wheelchair! And one with the little machinery on the handle so she didn't have to use her arms… soon enough she was zooming her way into a lift and down to the ground level.
~*~*~
They were all looking at expectantly, Lily lifted her wand said muttered, "Reformio" and she was her original self in an instant.
The other Extreme Aurors looked quite shocked, Tom looked at her in awe?, "That was pretty damn fast Lily…"
Lily half shrugged, she felt quite uncomfortable; she hadn't been in a room with so many people seeing her in her true form for years she thanked the gods when Tom started to speak again and all attention was reverted from her. Someone tapped her on the shoulder she turned and saw a young lady with flowing brown hair and steel greys eyes, she looked somewhat familiar and- "Vanessa?" Lily gasped.
Vanessa smiled, "Hey Lily… long time no see" She whispered.
She recognised her as a Ravenclaw in her form while at Hogwarts. Vanessa went down to a whisper, "Have you heard? About why we're here?"
Lily bit her lip, "I've got a hunch…"
Tom cleared his throat, "Okay, I've been asked by the Minister of Magic to hold up a meeting, as you all know the head of our department and dear friend Ernest Banks has unfortunately been killed. He was stabbed to death by some unknown in an ally beside a muggle hospital.. his case will be thoroughly observed, we will bring his death to justice…(at that there was sturdy applause) we were all close to him, he taught us well and he will be forever honoured in our hearts. So…" He lifted his wand and muttered something and drinks appeared for each of them, "let's have a toast…Ernie always enjoyed a drink, to pay our last respects"
Just as everyone was to stand up, the French doors burst open; a short balding man with red hair came in, he had black velvet robes, he looked at all of them and cleared his voice. Everyone (by habit) had their wands up defensively, they also had transformed back to their disguises.. The man waved them off and said, "Extreme Aurors… I mean no harm! I am only here to tell you! the Minister of Magic will be coming very soon."
Tom nodded and the man left, he went to the fireplace at the side of the room and lit the first place, he turned back to everyone, "our toast will have to wait… maybe the minister will tell us who's going to replace Ernie?" he suggested getting back to his seat.
Vanessa spoke up, "But Tom… Isn't it a bit soon."
He nodded, "It might seem to be…but we need a replacement by tomorrow, who'll be at the Ministry ball representing us? We need at least someone."
Another person spoke out, "Someone is going to the ball, Ernie told me just yesterday, someone in this room is going to ball anyway…"
Tom looked shocked, "Who?"
"That would be Miss Evans, I believe…" a voice said from a sudden flash.
It was the Minister, everyone stood up and bowed a slightly, Tom's eyes widened, "Minister! Welcome…"
The Minister helped himself and sat on Ernie's tycoon chair, he twisted around before stopping before them and folding his arms. There was silence and the minister looked at everyone before saying, "As you have heard the devastating news, we have issues to... er… deal with, such as finding a replacement for the head of this department. We have been in turmoil choosing the right candidate, but for now we must all stay in focus. As for now; I will fill in for Ernest and as for the day after the next; the Annual Ministry Ball, all of you will attend it, I have seen you all have nothing for that night, and I suggest you be prepared. I will personally announce the new head of the department at the ball. Miss Evans, I would like a word?" The minister finished.
Lily nodded and ignored the strange look Tom gave her, as the other extreme Aurors filed out Vanessa gave her a small smile, the minister stood up and said, "Miss Evans…I believe we have a few things I need to have a word with you, have a seat"
When Lily sat down he said, "As the minister of magic, I… how can I put it? I monitor…each member of the ministry. Today has been quite a day for you, has it not? And I'm not talking about Ernest's death…now this is good; you don't seem shocked. You've good today, But what I wanted to tell you about is Ernest's will. this isn't my job but I thought I might give you your part of his will"
Lily's eyes widened, "He included me?" just thinking about how much she missed Ernie, her heart wretched.
The Minister gave her a small smile, "Yes Miss Evans he did include you, you seem surprised. Even though I have only met you and Ernest at the same time once, I saw that you were quite close, closer to him then the other extreme Aurors. I will be announcing his will at a special meeting during the ball. He was my confidant; and I his…he thought of you as a daughter he never had… except he received you as an 18 yr old. I told him not to get to close to any of the extreme Aurors, your job is, dare I say; the most dangerous in the business. As you know your mission will commence in a fortnights time. Everything will go according to plan miss Evans… no exceptions. we are all grieved for what has happened today but you out of all people know that emotions can let us down. For good and bad, in this case you have to move on, you are one of the best extreme Aurors I have seen, you have put dozen upon dozens of evil into the Azkaban fortress you have done good for all of us. Be proud, I can very well tell you that you should be very proud of yourself."
During the ministers words Lily bit her lip, she looked up to him as he finished, "Minister… with all the respect I have for you, you tell me I should be proud of myself…for what I have done working here but can you tell me why I feel I shouldn't be proud? In other circumstances perhaps I would react in a different manner…but all I can see today and for the years I've been here is all the grief I've caused out of acting on an impulse at the tender age of 18. Today, yes, I did save Sarah's life…but if I hadn't gone that night she would not have been in that situation, if I hadn't gone then I wouldn't have to work at the hospital and get Ernie killed! I wouldn't have to live my life in solitude with only my boss to turn to, I wouldn't have to mourn over my almost life long crush that I never acted upon back in Hogwarts and the mutual relationship we never had. Basically I wouldn't have to live a living hell…I'm dead to them…they don't see me. The most painful thing is that is they aren't dead to me…I know what they suffer because of me and I'll always see them… and I can't say sorry, they'll never know how sorry I am…"
The minister looked thoughtful, "all these years you have been with us you never interacted with the others…I feel miss Evans is that you are living in deep regret…please tell me why you joined us in the first place? Revenge am I not correct? Revenge on He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? For killing you parents…You were and are the youngest witch ever to join our special force…you were not at legal age to join but when you came to this society and told Ernie of your plans he saw the determination in your eyes to justify the evil don't you remember your very words?"
Lily got off the expresses she was a good 150 kilometres from her apartment, she looked back the at the departing train them aimlessly wandered out of the platform, tears blinded her vision , her sleeves were almost soaked in tears, she didn't have much with her…she thought she had brought enough…the walked down the street and thought to herself how am I going to get revenge? I can't fight Voldemort on my own?! What am I doing here?!
She accidentally bumped into a person, she didn't turn to say sorry but the person she bumped into whispered, "Miss Evans?"
The old divination teacher looked up at her old student as she turned to face her, she saw the look of pain, despair, anger. She could have guessed what had happened.
Lily had tears running down her cheeks and was about to say something but Madame Siebert stopped her, "Shush child, here is your answer, in the city…tall means the tallest" Siebert stuffed a piece of parchment into her hands and rushed off into the distance before Lily could say anything. It was then did it start raining, Lily sunk down onto the ground and sobbed…
~~~~
It was raining down hard…a dark ,soaked figure rushed across the dim lit streets holding tall buildings. She looked around, her long hair dark and twisted in a sloppy bun, she looked between the two tall building in front of her; a small cottage? She looked at her soaking piece of parchment, you could still make out,
Between the tall and strange at all.
She made her way to the cottage…
~~~~
"-You understand Miss Evans that you are underage…only special circumstances-"
"consider this sir as a special circumstance, I want revenge! I know I'll wither up just not doing anything about my parents death. the were innocent, they did nothing to that bastard! Sir, just before my mother called me today I was reading in the paper about Voldemort striking again…I was seriously considering becoming an Auror. I'll kill him… or at least help destroy his reign I know this is a dangerous job sir and I'm not saying dangerous is my middle name but I'd rather die knowing that I've tried to avenge my parents' death than live longer with inner torment" Lily's eyes watered as she looked up at Mr Banks' kind old face.
Lily looked up at the minister, "My parents… I wanted revenge…"
The minister nodded, "Yes Miss Evans, always remember that important decisions are trees, their roots go deep, just as their reasons do. A strong decision with a strong reasons will stand strong…and it will last for it will be the best…in these circumstances that is. Revenge isn't always the way… but you have outdone yourself with the good from it… it has been a tiring day for you, you may go"
Even though she felt the their conversation was not at all finished, she left his office with a small nod. She walked into her office and sat down in her chair, and there she didn't sleep a wink. She just thought of her life…and how much she had screwed it up… and what she'd do to fix it…
Over the next day…
News had spread; Ernest Banks was dead and ministry wizards had yet to find his killer. Lily (without sleeping a wink) and Vanessa were among them. Funeral arrangements were being planned.
Remus, James and Sirius still couldn't get in touch with Adele or Peter. They had had a few hours by themselves, they didn't think they had registered all that had happened the day before. The were just too messed up…they spent their day visiting Calista and Sarah, trying to get in touch peter and talking with Adele's parents…their worry grew as Adele had not been seen for awhile now…
Mr and Mrs Chase went to visit their foster child, Calista. Adele was still no where to be found. Their stress had almost reached their limit. Calista was not getting better…they felt helpless and saddened by the fact they couldn't do anything.
The Auror society that dwelled between the two tallest buildings in the city had no choice but to keep on working their normal jobs.
After she was discharged from Ernie's investigation, Lily trained, trying to get Ernie's death from her mind…she trained all day and did not shed a single tear. She trained in secret with her trainer. She avoided all of the Extreme Aurors, she wasn't so much as running from her problem, she was hiding…again. That wasn't good.
Peter was in a drastic state, so was his master…out of sight and out of mind. The two were recuperating in the deep chambers of Voldemort's lair. Atrox had taken charge for the moment…with Lucius beside him; planning something… but what?
Severus Snape stayed at home… until Lucius visited him; he was surprised at first, he had not seen Lucius for a year. When Lucius appeared at his front door Severus smiled, but that smile soon faded as Lucius started to speak to him.
After finding out about Ernie she grew into a devastated condition, her parents told her about what had happened while she was out. She had to sort a lot of her issues out. Sarah was still begging her parents to let her go to the ball, Her parents said "no" but miracles happen once in awhile…
The minister said it would raise suspicion if she did not go. So as it went; Sarah was going to the ball the next night, even though she was still very weak (she was on strong magical medication) goodness knows where she got it from… maybe it was when Lily saved her, but she had hope and determination in herself to finally rest Lily's case. She planned to perform the spell when she got better, which wasn't going to be for awhile. So her plan was had quite a delay before it had even started? Sarah knew she didn't have all the time in the world…but somehow she knew that the ball the next night would change things.
The next night would change all of them…some more than others…but change is almost all the same…
A/N: it seemed realistic to me…(making Remus, James and Sirius so blunt all of a sudden) with all the events happenind on that day, it happens (I know from experience). Too much emotions would've made me portray the three to be… well, how they are now.
That thing (the epilogue-y thingy for this chapter) was just a little shortcut I guess, because the ministry ball is next. This chapter in actual fact was originally chapter 10. I remember promising to do the ministry ball during the original chapter 5 so I decided to hurry things up.
