a n d   t h e n   t h e r e   w a s   o n e

Disclaimer… All recognizable characters, plotlines belong to JK Rowling.  Drew, Myall, the Elia group, and the plotline belongs to me.  Although, I have adapted many of the concepts from the WB show, Charmed, into this fanfic.

Author's note…

P L E A S E   R E A D!!!!!!

I am going for a holiday for 3 WEEKS to Hong Kong and some parts of Asia. So, unless I have bundles of cash to splash on those cybercafes there, I probably wont be updating for a while. I will jot my ideas down when I am there so that I can get them into a computer as soon as I am back.

So, if you want to be informed of my update, just say so in your review, and I will email you. Else, I will catch up with you guys in three weeks time. This goes for my other ff as well. I didn't mention it in my last chap on that one.

Hope you wont forget me!!!!! Love yas all.

Myall-tk

Ps: where have you been, fireangel?

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JOURNEY TO THE PAST

Lily sighed as she watched the owl that delivered James' letter fly away. The port key had dropped her in an alleyway that was close to the Kremlin Square.

Lily had asked for a map of magical and muggle Moscow from the travel agency Ernest's Escapes in Hogsmede. Ernest Le Vart was an extremely helpful man, even pointing out to Lily where the nunnery was and directions from where the port key dropped her. 

After walking for a good ½ an hour in the breezy Moscow weather, Lily stopped and reread the directions.

"Ok." Lily mumbled to herself. "If I follow Ernest's directions, it should take me past the Kremlin Square, down this bricked road. Cross the path and up this other road. I've done that, so I should be right…here."

Lily looked up, and gasped. The nunnery was exactly the way it was in the picture. In fact, she was standing on the exact same spot the photo was taken. She could almost hear her aunt gabbing and gossiping like she always does.

"Excuse me, miss. Are you looking for something?" Lily was so absorbed that she didn't notice a small sized nun standing next to her.

"Ummm…yes, I am. I am actually looking for a friend who may be here."

The nun smiled. "Sure, come in. its cold out here." The nun gestured for Lily to follow her.

The foyer of the nunnery was beautiful, with many portraits of former nuns.  Lily suspected that the Palnikov nunnery was not a muggle one, because the figures in the portraits were moving, and ghostly spirits were roaming the corridors, giving her a smile and a wave as they pass by.

"I am Sister Elenova. You are?"

"Lily. Lily Evans."

"Well, Lily. It is wonderful to meet you. You are from England?"

"Yes, I am. Arrived at Port key 5 just this morning."

"Wonderful. Wonderful." The nurse said cheerfully. "We have many visitors from England.  In fact there are some that end up becoming nuns here."

"That's why I am here." Lily said, "My aunts friend may have became a nun here. I was just wondering if you know her. Her name is Amelia."

"Amelia?" Sister Elenova said, scratching her head. "No I don't know a Sister Amelia. Do you know a last name? After they come here, they are only known with their last names."

Lily thought for a moment. "Umm…no I don't have a last name to give you."

Noticing the crestfallen look on Lily's face, Sister Elenova smiled, and patted her on the shoulder.

"Its alright. You can speak to the nuns here. In fact, the left wing of the nunnery is where all the foreign nuns stay. Perhaps you can start there. In the meantime, can I treat you with some breakfast?"

* * * * * *  * *

After thanking Sister Elenova earnestly for the breakfast, the Sister took her towards the left wing of the nunnery.

"This is Sister Taylor's quarters. She is the head nun for the left wing. She will be here soon. Perhaps she can help you with your search for your friend."

"Thank you, Sister Elenova." Lily said, bowing her head. The sister smiled and left, leaving Lily there in the cold room by herself. After a while, a slim looking but cheerful nun walked into the room.

"Hello, dear." She said, shaking Lily's hand. "You must be Lily Evans. I am Sister Taylor. Sister Elenova tells me you are searching for a friend of yours from England?"

"Yes." Lily said shyly. "Her name is Amelia."

"Amelia?" She paused. "I know all the nuns here by their first names, and I don't know an Amelia. Are you sure you have the right place, sweetheart?"

Lily fumbled through her bag for the photo. She showed it to Sister Taylor. "I was told she was in Moscow. She has expressed interest in coming back to this nunnery since that trip."

Sister Taylor looked at the image and smiled.

"Ah yes. I remember this photo. Hogwarts and Beaubaxton students. In fact, if you look in the corner there," she said, showing the photo to Lily. "That's me."

"That's you?" Lily said, in a surprised tone.

"Yes." Sister Taylor replied vividly. "I remember those girls. Particularly the Hogwarts ones. Very noisy but kind group of girls the three of them. In fact, I think I know who you are looking for, though you might have been misinformed with the name. One of those girls did come here. Her name is Amy Lieberman. Sister Lieberman still resides here."

"Amy…" Lily said, then it struck her. Amy was an Elian. That's why her official name was Amelia. How could she not realise.

"Please…can I see her?"

Sister Taylor's face fell. "I believe that may be easier said than done." She replied somberly.

"Why?"

"Because Sister Lieberman doesn't speak to anyone. She prays all day and night by herself. She speaks nothing about her past. When she first came, she was a frail young lady. Her clothes were torn and she had been traveling for days. I offered her some food and shelter until I could see the colour in her face. I told her she was not obligated to stay at the nunnery. But she did…for almost 10 years."

Lily gasped. "You mean she has been praying by herself for 10 years?"

Sister Taylor nodded. "No one could speak to her. She walked in, went straight to the praying dome, and never really came out. Something happened to her, but no one has gotten it out of her."

Lily sat there in shock. She didn't know what to say.

"What happens when someone tries to talk to her?"

"She walks away. No one has tried to for years."

"I need to." Lily said. Sister Taylor looked at Lily in astonishment.

"I have something to ask of her." Lily said, "She is my only hope."

Sister Taylor sighed. "I suppose that might be ok. No one has ever come to see her all these years. Perhaps you might be able to bring her out of her shell...I will take you to her now."

Lily got up with her, her mind racing with questions and the rush of excitement at the prospect of finally meeting another Elian.

* * * * * *  * *

"This is the praying dome." Sister Taylor said, as she lead Lily into a beautiful room with a spherical ceiling that was full of nuns moving around, praying, nursing little children, and laughing. On the ground, various Sisters were running around, talking to each other, or making prayers in small groups.

"And…that, is Sister Lieberman." Sister Taylor said, pointing to a lone figure who was kneeled down by the bay window that was overlooking Kremlin Square.

"Like I said, she doesn't talk to anyone, so I suggest you approach with caution"

Lily walked quietly towards her, as if the nun was going to turn around and attack her.

"Sister Lieberman?" Lily whispered softly. The figure didn't turn around. Lily turned to look at Sister Taylor, who shrugged her shoulders.

"Amy?" Lily tried again. No reply.

"Amelia?" The figure didn't even move an inch. Sister Taylor walked towards Lily.

"I think its useless, my dear. Perhaps she isn't the person you are looking for."

Lily felt a tear coming down her face. She was so close, she thought to herself. Lily was sure this person was the one she was looking for. She nodded at Sister Taylor and allowed the sister to take her hand as she was gently led away.

They had reached the doors of the praying dome when a voice boomed out.

"I am not an Elian anymore."

Lily and Sister Taylor turned around, to find the figure had gotten up and was now facing them.

"I gave up that part of my life years ago." The figure said. The other sisters, so taken aback by the fact that the figure was speaking, was slowly moving away from her in fright.

Lily walked slowly towards her.

"What do you mean?" she asked calmly.

"it doesn't work anymore. It has failed me."

"What has failed you?" Lily asked.

"The one thing I thought would protect me. It failed me. Took away the most important thing in my life."

By now, the other sisters were standing behind Sister Taylor, too shocked to speak. Others had rushed up to see what was going on.

"It took away everything. And now I am left with nothing. God is the only thing I have left."

"Amelia…you haven't been left with nothing. You have a great gift. A gift that is…"

Amelia snarled. "Being an Elian is not a gift. It has become the death of me."

Lily was edging closer to Amelia now, so close that she could see her face. She looked like an older version of the girl in the photo. Except, the bright smile was gone. Her face was paler. Lily could see nothing.

"Amelia. I am an Elian too… I didn't appreciate my gift before. But now I do, especially after my aunt and uncle died."

"What do they have to do with me?"

"Because my aunt is Bessida Bailey."

Immediately, Amelia's face changed. Lily couldn't interpret it. It became a little softer. Lily could have also sworn there was a tear coming down her eyes.

"And…your…uncle is dead too?"

Lily nodded solemnly. Amelia sat down with a thud on the nearest chair, and sighed, wiping tears from her eyes.

"Only we knew." Amelia mumbled, shaking her head. "Only we knew how strong he was going to become. No one else understood. We knew Crystalline hated us. But we didn't realise to what extend that hatred was. Until we met him. Until we saw the hatred in his eyes."

By now most of the sisters at the door had left, leaving Amelia and Lily alone in the praying dome. Lily thought she would be afraid of her. Instead, she watched this strange lady walk up and down, mumbling to herself.

"Can I ask, what happened to you?" Lily asked meekly.

Amelia, who was pacing up and down, looked at Lily.

"Didn't your aunt tell you?" Amelia asked, surprised.

Lily shook her head.

"No. she only mentioned you when Riddle burnt her book."

Amelia stopped pacing around and sunk into a chair.

"After Hogwarts, the three of us lived together, but only for a short time. Bessie was engaged to Bartho, myself engaged to a fine man called Hamish Figg. We were using our time together to plan our wedding. We knew Crystalline would feel out of place, so we tried to make plans without her as much as possible."

"It was about this time when we accidentally made a slip to her that we were Elians. I suppose we should have told her earlier, but we just couldn't. Crystalline was furious, jealous, envious, you name it. She felt betrayed by us, by the magical community, and found her way into the muggle world, where she fell in love with a muggle. Riddle, his name was. When we finally got married, Crystalline never came to our wedding."

"When your aunt and I had found out Crystalline had died a year or so later, we went to look for her grave. There was none. We asked around, but no one knew anything about her family. Finally, Bartholomew found out from Albus that her son had just finished Hogwarts. We went to find him, to offer our condolences for his mother's death."

"But he refused to accept them. He was quite young, perhaps in the early twenties. But he was strong. Very strong."

"A few days later, Bessie and I were going back to my place after work, when we saw a skull image hovering over my house. Sensing something not right, we ran in. Inside, we found the boy, standing over Hamish, who was dead, and laughing loud. Out of anger, I tried to freeze time in order to take his wand away from him, but it didn't work. Instead, he chanted the killing curse at me. I moved, but it hit Bessie, who was trying to heal Hamish. He then muttered: 'its not over yet.' And apparated away. Bessie wasn't dead, but she was definitely dying. I know the only way to save her was to use the Elian soul locking spell."

Amelia saw the confused look on Lily's face.

"An Elian's soul can be retained if it is embedded in a piece of knowledge or literature. It can never be resurrected, it will only be lost if the piece it resides in is lost. The spell requires a near death Elain, and the powers of another."

Lily gasped. "You gave up your powers so that Bessie could live?"

Amelia nodded sadly. "She needed to guide you in your Elian training. You were her pride and joy. It wouldn't have been fair to take her away from you."

Lily sat there shocked at what Amelia had just said to her.

"A few years after we had gotten married, your mother, Bessie's grand niece gave birth to you. Eleanor, her name was. Eleanor was brought up in the muggle world, and married a muggle man. When Bessie and I went to visit her, Bessie realised that you were an Elian too. She suggested to your parents that she take care of you, so that they wouldn't be in any danger. Your mother reluctantly agreed."

Lily starred at her sympathetically.

"its not your fault, you know. That you lost Hamish and Bessie that day."

"I found out through some witches, that Hamish was at home that day when he came. When Riddle asked him where I was, he refused to say anything. Silly, silly man." Amelia said, collapsing into tears. "My love for Hamish wasn't strong enough to keep him alive."

"But you gave Bessie a second chance. I wouldn't be here had you not made that sacrifice."

"Bessie would have been alive if it hadn't been for me!" Amelia cried, her voice echoing around the dome.

"no." lily said. "she would probably have been killed, somewhere along the way. But being sealed in a book, Riddle didn't know she was alive. She lived that little bit longer."

"Amy," Lily said, as she placed her land on her shoulder. " what happened to you was tragic. But that doesn't mean you are going to sit in here all day and night and pray. You need to make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else. Don't let Hamish, Aunt Bessie or Uncle Barto's life go to waste."

"What do you want me to do then?" Amy yelled in anger.

"I want you to come back to England with me, so that we can work together to stop him."

"Never. I am never going back."

Lily stared at her in astonishment.

"But I need you. You are the only Elian left who can help me. If you wont do it for me, do it for Bessie. She asked me to come to you."

"I have no powers left. How can I be of help to you?"

"Your wisdom and your experience is what I need. I am only as good as what uncle Barto and aunt Bessie have taught me so far, but I have a lot to learn." Lily looked at her.

Amelia had a faraway look on her face. It was like she was looking beyond the stained glass windows, beyond the Kremlin Square, even beyond this world.

"I died the day Hamish died." She said in a wondering voice. "I haven't woken up since."

They sat there in silence.

"All I remember was passing the book to Barto, giving him my condolences, burying Hamish, then leaving. I traveled by foot to here. I didn't even trust basic magic anymore."

"Then you are just as bad as Crystalline."

Amelia turned around and stared hard at Lily. "Don't you ever compare me to that witch!"

"No. you are." Lily said defiantly. "You didn't know who else to blame, so you blamed two things in your life that has build character in you. Your Elian powers and your magical skills. When you lost both, plus the ones you love, you lost yourself. Just as Crystalline did. You don't want to end up like her."

"You unfaithful little girl." Amelia snarled at her. "I gave up my powers so that you can have a life. How dare you compare me to her."

"Because someone has to." Lily said in rage. "Someone has to tell you what a huge mistake you are making and remind you of who you really are."

"Get out!"

"What?" Lily asked in shock.

"I said, get out! And don't ever come back. I don't care about what happens to you. I don't care about the Elian order. I don't care. Just leave."

Lily knew that she was angry beyond persuasion. Fuming at herself for instigating her, Lily turned around and walked towards the door. Then she stopped, and walked back towards her. Amelia was looking out the window again.

"I said…"

"I just thought you should have this."

Lily stuffed a piece of paper in her hand, then turned and left.

Amelia glanced down at the paper. It was the photograph, taken in front of the nunnery. Bessie and her were whispering and laughing together.

Amelia:

There was this boy at Beaubaxton. I fancied him, and Bessie tried so hard to get up together. She ripped his bag so that everything would fall on me when we were sitting on the bus, and that didn't work. She would enchant the dinner menu so that when I was so conveniently next to him, we would end up with stuff we each hated, so we would naturally swap. It came to the point she was so mad that we still hadn't hooked up, she tattooed my name on his arm. Poor guy….(laughs)…I don't think he had much of a choice then to marry me did he?

She smiled and wiped the tear from her eye. When she turned around, Lily was gone.

* * * * * *  * *

Dear Lily,

Received your owl this morning after a very late night. Its weird sitting in your dorm alone, when your best friends are off doing things that you yourself wish you were doing now. The ball was fantastic. Wish you were there. I can proudly say that us prefects did a great job decorating the place.

I think I know what your Christmas present is. I'm sitting here trying to figure it out. Yes, I will NOT open it, though I wouldn't hesitate to coax it out of Clover…=) Oh well, if all else fails I have only two days left until Christmas. Cant wait. Your Christmas present is here. I want to see your face when you open it. So if you want it, you are just going to have to come back and get it.

I hope you had a great and useful day in Moscow. I know how important it was for you to find her, and I hope  you found what you were looking for. I'm sure you are very excited about it, and I wish you all the best.

I suppose you are going to ask me why I am here in my dorm by myself when I should be off doing something else. I did something really bad last night, that didn't turn out as bad as I had thought it would, but felt worse than I thought it did. Its hard to throw away three years of your life just because you have a gut instinct about something. But I did.

My feelings for you aren't going to go away, and ashamed as I am to say so, I don't want it to. My instincts about this is so strong, that it has changed the person I am. I never trust my instincts normally. Am too afraid it will fail in front of me. But I have a good feeling about you. About us.

I am not asking anything from you because of my actions last night. It wouldn't be fair as you have a lot to think about and figure out. I like the way things are between us. We have a mutual understanding that I am very proud to be a part of. But rest assured, that I will be there for you, and I wont allow you to forget that.

Hope you can come back before Christmas Day. Until then, please keep in touch. I miss you already.

Love, James.

* * * * * *  * *

Phew!!! That was really mind boggling to write.

How JKR seem to piece everything in her books together is beyond me. IF any of you cluey people out there detect a discrepancy in this chapter in regard to the events as compared to the chapters before, please tell me. I am busy packing and typing up my ff's, so my mind has gone a bit off the rail these days.