I made a huge - HUGE mistake last chapter, which you probably noticed. At the end, where Lily goes to find Emanuel, she goes to the Durmstrang ship, and not the Beauxbatons carraige. I'm the fool, Not Doran - whose name should have been Domenic, or something of the sort. My bad. On with the story...
Landslide :: 8 ::
"Guys!" Sirius yelled, running down the stairs two at a time. Everyone looked up at him, surprised to see him in such a panic.
"The map," he breathed, "It's gone."
***
Lily pulled away from Emanuel. He was the first to speak.
"I'm sorry." he said. Lily looked back at him.
"Why are you sorry? You had nothing to do with any of it."
"No, I am sorry to see you are upset. Come, Monsieur Distrait azz just made tea."
"Thank you." she said. Lily was about to follow him, when her conscience brought her back.
"Or, no. Sorry. It's getting late, and I need to be heading back. I really don't want to break any school rules or anything. But I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast."
She wiped the tip of her nose with her hand.
"But thank you anyways."
"Izz no problem. Here, take zis. Iz very much like muggle painkillers. Sleep well."
He handed Lily a small vial of clear liquid. Lily took it gently.
"You're very kind."
"I try. Bonne nuit, Lily."
Lily smiled in response. She headed back to the castle, with a small weight lifted from her shoulders. The day had somehow ended on a good note. She pocketed the vial when she got inside.
No one was around as she made her way back to her room, thank goodness. Not only would she have to explain herself being out by the Beauxbatons carraige, but why her eyes were all red as well.
Peeves, unknown to Lily, was tailing her until they reached the hallway to her dorm.
"Now what could a Head Girl be doing out of bed so late at night? I've the right mind to tell a teacher about you!"
"Bugger off, Peeves."
"That's no way to speak to a ghost! STUDENT OUT OF BED! STUDENT OUT O-"
Lily flicked her wand at Peeves, and he suddenly grasped his throat.
"My voice!" he mouthed. "What have you done?"
"I daresay I've done the school a favour, but sadly, it's only temporary."
"I'll get you back for this!" He mouthed again, shaking his fist at Lily as he flew away. A few of the paintings pressed their faces to the canvas as they watched him zoom away.
"Good on you, Lily!"
Once Lily had gotten into her dorm, she barely had enough strength to pull the sheets back on the bed, let alone crawl into it. As her head thwapped against the pillow, her last thoughts before she drifted off to sleep were of a handsome exchange student handing her the Triwizard trophy.
*
"What the hell do you mean ' It's gone' ?"
"I mean, Remus, that the map is not in it's usual hiding spot under my trunk."
"Keep your voice down Padfoot! Okay, so it's not there. Did anyone take it and just not put it back?"
James looked at each of his friends in turn, all shaking their heads - eyes wide. James suddenly felt the blood pounding in his ears. He bolted from his seat to the boy's stairway, jumping the stairs two and three at a time.
All four boys slammed into the dormitory door at the same time, but through the jumble of pushing and shoving it was Peter who finally grabbed the doorknob and let them all tumble in. Wordlessly, each went to their beds and started searching through their trunks, under their beds, in their nightstands, by the windows, and every other unlikely place it could have gotten to. James - although he already knew it wouldn't be there - went back to his old bed, the one he had had in every other year before he had become Head Boy.
After a few moments of quiet chaos, the boys stopped. James sat on his old bed, brows brought together in frustrated concentration. Sirius voiced the obvious.
"Someone had to have taken it."
Peter crawled out from between a bookshelf and a desk.
"But who?"
Remus was already folding his clothes neatly back into his trunk. He sensed their gaze, and dropped the sweater he had been folding back on to the floor.
"Listen, no one knows about it but us. Anyone who would have found it or taken it can't know what it is, we put a spell on it, remember? It'll just be a bit of old parchment to them. Who knows, it may just turn up in a wasteasket in the common room."
"Who would want to take a peice of old parchment?" Sirius said.
"No one. That's the thing."
"Guys, relax. No one knows what it is."
Remus picked up his sweater, opened his wardrobe, and tossed it on top of the unkempt pile - shutting the door quickly.
James hadn't spoken in a while, his mind was in concentration. But at Remus' last words, he broke out of his stupor. What Remus had said wasn't, in fact, true. There was one other.
A red-haired someone, who had just vented all her anger out on him and left uttering some kind of - warning. Like she was going to get back at him for something.
"Guys - " he interrupted. "I know who took the map."
*
Lily awoke the next morning, feeling only slightly better, but still terribly miffed at the previous day. On the corner of her bedside table, sat the vial that Emanuel had given her. She picked it up, uncorked it, and smelled the rim.
Odorless. That was odd, most remedy potions were more potent. She swirled the vial. It was also very light. Lily put the vial back on her bedside table as she looked around her room. It was definately in need of some serious cleaning.
She caught sight of her school uniform from yesterday, part of the fringe from her skirt burnt away, as well as a stain on her sweater. Her gaze shifted back to the vial.
Maybe she should take it. If there was any chance that she would feel better, it was a chance that she would be more than willing to gamble on.
What a stupid thought. Gambling. On this tiny little vial. She trusted Emanuel.
The vial drained in one swallow.
*
James woke up later than usual, but then remembered that it was a Saturday - letting his head fall back against the pillow. He lay staring at the celing for a while, contemplating over how to get the map back - and how unbelievably low of Evans to take it in the first place.
He got up and got dressed, pulling his sweater over his head roughly, making his hair look more dissheveled and his appearance more aggrivated. Once he had pulled on his battered running shoes, he left his dorm and waited patiently beside the adjacent painting.
James waited in total silence for over twenty minutes, until the painting gave a lurch. Lily stumbled out, and jumped when she saw him.
"What do you want?"
He looked at her before uncrossing his arms.
"Follow me."
James could feel blood pounding at the outer corners of his eyes, and let his fists unclench at his sides. He hoped she was right behind him. Chancing a quick glance over his shoulder, he caught her eye.
She looked at him, puzzlement written all over her face.
"Where are we -" she began, but James' head whipped around, ignoring her.
At long last they arrived in what Lily recognized as the Transfiguration wing. James opened a door to the nearest classroom and headed inside. Lily followed, the door closing automatically behind her.
He leaned against the wall.
"Well?"
"Well what?" Lily retorted indignantly.
"I want the parchment back. I know you know what it is, so I won't go on about its value. I suppose I underestimated you. Now I know not to put thievery past you."
"Thievery? You - you think I stole something of yours?!"
"I don't think - I know. Now if you don't mind,"
He held out his hand.
Lily looked at it for a moment, anger boiling in her stomach. She pushed his hand away.
"I don't have anything of yours in my posession, nor would I want any of it in the first place."
"You lie -"
"It isn't my fault that you've gone and lost a bit of old parchment. Maybe if you were that much more organized, you wouldn't need to go off and make idiotic assumptions that it's someone else's fault."
"Evans it isn't PARCHMENT!" he yelled. Lily understood in a heartbeat why he had led her to the place farthest away from the Great Hall and all the crowds. In case there was a loud argument.
"You need to spend more time on your Head Boy duties and less time with your friends on those stupid pranks. So fine, now some poor second year has some exploding parchment, is that it? Did you need it back so you can claim copyright over it, or do we just sit and wait for it to go as wrong as everything else and blow the teeth out of someones head?"
"Are you serious? Is that where this is going again? Only you would change the subject."
"Am I?"
"It's not a prank! Dammit it's a MAP! And I know it was you that took it. You had your twisted motives - you probably went to take it right after dinner, didn't you?"
"I most certainly did not! I was -"
Lily's mouth was open, but in an instant she couldn't remember what she was going to say. Where was she last night? She didn't even have dinner - that much she knew. Or no, she did eat. Didn't she?
"Where?" James demanded.
Lily snapped back.
"What ... what business is it of yours where I was? I don't have your stupid parchment - or map, whatever it was to you. Leave me alone."
Lily turned and left the classroom, closely followed by James. She concentrated so hard on last night. Why couldn't she remember?
Peeves bobbed around the corner, holding a ring of keys - looking very happy with himself. He spotted Lily and James, grinning wildly.
"You wouldn't have guessed it, would you? But I've done it. Filch's key set. I've finally gotten my hands on it!"
He let out a low, malicious chuckle.
It wasn't so much what he was doing there, but his presence struck something in Lily's memory.
"Peeves!" she said, pointing her finger at him. She turned to look at James.
"I remember bumping into him last night! He can tell you. Didn't I see you last night Peeves?"
Peeves raised an eyebrow at her for a while, then turned to James with a toothy grin on his face.
"I haven't seen her in ages."
Lily's jaw could have put a hole in the floor.
"He's lying! I saw him after dinner! - James wait!"
James had already stared at her incredulously before stalking off down the corridor. Lily rounded on Peeves.
"How could you?"
"How could I what? Smart Head Girl is stupid when it comes to revenge..."
"Ugh, Peeves! Any other revengeful thing would have suited, but this was important!"
"My my, in that case - it was very well suited."
Peeves swooped down around the corner, cackling to himself. Lily stared blankly after him. Her mind was still turning over, trying to figure out the events of last night.
Her fingers were numb. She had forgotten her sweater in her dorm, and soon abandoned the Transfiguation wing. As she passed a few windows, she was able to see out onto the grounds. It was a subtle, and quiet change, but the grounds were covered with a thick frost. The lake looked frigid, and the leaves from the trees had all fallen. Lily could see Hagrid raking them all up into neat piles. He was wearing what looked like a heavy cloak, and large yellow earmuffs.
She looked out near the edge of Hagrid's cottage, and saw the Beauxbatons carraige. The horses were tied to a makeshift fence, all of them wearing puffy blue blankets.
Winter was coming.
Landslide :: 8 ::
"Guys!" Sirius yelled, running down the stairs two at a time. Everyone looked up at him, surprised to see him in such a panic.
"The map," he breathed, "It's gone."
***
Lily pulled away from Emanuel. He was the first to speak.
"I'm sorry." he said. Lily looked back at him.
"Why are you sorry? You had nothing to do with any of it."
"No, I am sorry to see you are upset. Come, Monsieur Distrait azz just made tea."
"Thank you." she said. Lily was about to follow him, when her conscience brought her back.
"Or, no. Sorry. It's getting late, and I need to be heading back. I really don't want to break any school rules or anything. But I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast."
She wiped the tip of her nose with her hand.
"But thank you anyways."
"Izz no problem. Here, take zis. Iz very much like muggle painkillers. Sleep well."
He handed Lily a small vial of clear liquid. Lily took it gently.
"You're very kind."
"I try. Bonne nuit, Lily."
Lily smiled in response. She headed back to the castle, with a small weight lifted from her shoulders. The day had somehow ended on a good note. She pocketed the vial when she got inside.
No one was around as she made her way back to her room, thank goodness. Not only would she have to explain herself being out by the Beauxbatons carraige, but why her eyes were all red as well.
Peeves, unknown to Lily, was tailing her until they reached the hallway to her dorm.
"Now what could a Head Girl be doing out of bed so late at night? I've the right mind to tell a teacher about you!"
"Bugger off, Peeves."
"That's no way to speak to a ghost! STUDENT OUT OF BED! STUDENT OUT O-"
Lily flicked her wand at Peeves, and he suddenly grasped his throat.
"My voice!" he mouthed. "What have you done?"
"I daresay I've done the school a favour, but sadly, it's only temporary."
"I'll get you back for this!" He mouthed again, shaking his fist at Lily as he flew away. A few of the paintings pressed their faces to the canvas as they watched him zoom away.
"Good on you, Lily!"
Once Lily had gotten into her dorm, she barely had enough strength to pull the sheets back on the bed, let alone crawl into it. As her head thwapped against the pillow, her last thoughts before she drifted off to sleep were of a handsome exchange student handing her the Triwizard trophy.
*
"What the hell do you mean ' It's gone' ?"
"I mean, Remus, that the map is not in it's usual hiding spot under my trunk."
"Keep your voice down Padfoot! Okay, so it's not there. Did anyone take it and just not put it back?"
James looked at each of his friends in turn, all shaking their heads - eyes wide. James suddenly felt the blood pounding in his ears. He bolted from his seat to the boy's stairway, jumping the stairs two and three at a time.
All four boys slammed into the dormitory door at the same time, but through the jumble of pushing and shoving it was Peter who finally grabbed the doorknob and let them all tumble in. Wordlessly, each went to their beds and started searching through their trunks, under their beds, in their nightstands, by the windows, and every other unlikely place it could have gotten to. James - although he already knew it wouldn't be there - went back to his old bed, the one he had had in every other year before he had become Head Boy.
After a few moments of quiet chaos, the boys stopped. James sat on his old bed, brows brought together in frustrated concentration. Sirius voiced the obvious.
"Someone had to have taken it."
Peter crawled out from between a bookshelf and a desk.
"But who?"
Remus was already folding his clothes neatly back into his trunk. He sensed their gaze, and dropped the sweater he had been folding back on to the floor.
"Listen, no one knows about it but us. Anyone who would have found it or taken it can't know what it is, we put a spell on it, remember? It'll just be a bit of old parchment to them. Who knows, it may just turn up in a wasteasket in the common room."
"Who would want to take a peice of old parchment?" Sirius said.
"No one. That's the thing."
"Guys, relax. No one knows what it is."
Remus picked up his sweater, opened his wardrobe, and tossed it on top of the unkempt pile - shutting the door quickly.
James hadn't spoken in a while, his mind was in concentration. But at Remus' last words, he broke out of his stupor. What Remus had said wasn't, in fact, true. There was one other.
A red-haired someone, who had just vented all her anger out on him and left uttering some kind of - warning. Like she was going to get back at him for something.
"Guys - " he interrupted. "I know who took the map."
*
Lily awoke the next morning, feeling only slightly better, but still terribly miffed at the previous day. On the corner of her bedside table, sat the vial that Emanuel had given her. She picked it up, uncorked it, and smelled the rim.
Odorless. That was odd, most remedy potions were more potent. She swirled the vial. It was also very light. Lily put the vial back on her bedside table as she looked around her room. It was definately in need of some serious cleaning.
She caught sight of her school uniform from yesterday, part of the fringe from her skirt burnt away, as well as a stain on her sweater. Her gaze shifted back to the vial.
Maybe she should take it. If there was any chance that she would feel better, it was a chance that she would be more than willing to gamble on.
What a stupid thought. Gambling. On this tiny little vial. She trusted Emanuel.
The vial drained in one swallow.
*
James woke up later than usual, but then remembered that it was a Saturday - letting his head fall back against the pillow. He lay staring at the celing for a while, contemplating over how to get the map back - and how unbelievably low of Evans to take it in the first place.
He got up and got dressed, pulling his sweater over his head roughly, making his hair look more dissheveled and his appearance more aggrivated. Once he had pulled on his battered running shoes, he left his dorm and waited patiently beside the adjacent painting.
James waited in total silence for over twenty minutes, until the painting gave a lurch. Lily stumbled out, and jumped when she saw him.
"What do you want?"
He looked at her before uncrossing his arms.
"Follow me."
James could feel blood pounding at the outer corners of his eyes, and let his fists unclench at his sides. He hoped she was right behind him. Chancing a quick glance over his shoulder, he caught her eye.
She looked at him, puzzlement written all over her face.
"Where are we -" she began, but James' head whipped around, ignoring her.
At long last they arrived in what Lily recognized as the Transfiguration wing. James opened a door to the nearest classroom and headed inside. Lily followed, the door closing automatically behind her.
He leaned against the wall.
"Well?"
"Well what?" Lily retorted indignantly.
"I want the parchment back. I know you know what it is, so I won't go on about its value. I suppose I underestimated you. Now I know not to put thievery past you."
"Thievery? You - you think I stole something of yours?!"
"I don't think - I know. Now if you don't mind,"
He held out his hand.
Lily looked at it for a moment, anger boiling in her stomach. She pushed his hand away.
"I don't have anything of yours in my posession, nor would I want any of it in the first place."
"You lie -"
"It isn't my fault that you've gone and lost a bit of old parchment. Maybe if you were that much more organized, you wouldn't need to go off and make idiotic assumptions that it's someone else's fault."
"Evans it isn't PARCHMENT!" he yelled. Lily understood in a heartbeat why he had led her to the place farthest away from the Great Hall and all the crowds. In case there was a loud argument.
"You need to spend more time on your Head Boy duties and less time with your friends on those stupid pranks. So fine, now some poor second year has some exploding parchment, is that it? Did you need it back so you can claim copyright over it, or do we just sit and wait for it to go as wrong as everything else and blow the teeth out of someones head?"
"Are you serious? Is that where this is going again? Only you would change the subject."
"Am I?"
"It's not a prank! Dammit it's a MAP! And I know it was you that took it. You had your twisted motives - you probably went to take it right after dinner, didn't you?"
"I most certainly did not! I was -"
Lily's mouth was open, but in an instant she couldn't remember what she was going to say. Where was she last night? She didn't even have dinner - that much she knew. Or no, she did eat. Didn't she?
"Where?" James demanded.
Lily snapped back.
"What ... what business is it of yours where I was? I don't have your stupid parchment - or map, whatever it was to you. Leave me alone."
Lily turned and left the classroom, closely followed by James. She concentrated so hard on last night. Why couldn't she remember?
Peeves bobbed around the corner, holding a ring of keys - looking very happy with himself. He spotted Lily and James, grinning wildly.
"You wouldn't have guessed it, would you? But I've done it. Filch's key set. I've finally gotten my hands on it!"
He let out a low, malicious chuckle.
It wasn't so much what he was doing there, but his presence struck something in Lily's memory.
"Peeves!" she said, pointing her finger at him. She turned to look at James.
"I remember bumping into him last night! He can tell you. Didn't I see you last night Peeves?"
Peeves raised an eyebrow at her for a while, then turned to James with a toothy grin on his face.
"I haven't seen her in ages."
Lily's jaw could have put a hole in the floor.
"He's lying! I saw him after dinner! - James wait!"
James had already stared at her incredulously before stalking off down the corridor. Lily rounded on Peeves.
"How could you?"
"How could I what? Smart Head Girl is stupid when it comes to revenge..."
"Ugh, Peeves! Any other revengeful thing would have suited, but this was important!"
"My my, in that case - it was very well suited."
Peeves swooped down around the corner, cackling to himself. Lily stared blankly after him. Her mind was still turning over, trying to figure out the events of last night.
Her fingers were numb. She had forgotten her sweater in her dorm, and soon abandoned the Transfiguation wing. As she passed a few windows, she was able to see out onto the grounds. It was a subtle, and quiet change, but the grounds were covered with a thick frost. The lake looked frigid, and the leaves from the trees had all fallen. Lily could see Hagrid raking them all up into neat piles. He was wearing what looked like a heavy cloak, and large yellow earmuffs.
She looked out near the edge of Hagrid's cottage, and saw the Beauxbatons carraige. The horses were tied to a makeshift fence, all of them wearing puffy blue blankets.
Winter was coming.