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Chapter 7 Homeward

*In the arms of the angel, Far away from here. In this dark, cold hotel room, And the endlessness that you fear. You were pulled from the wreckage Of your silent reverie. And in the arms of the angel, May you find some comfort here.*


The Christmas holidays came quickly, and Lily, whether from school work or her recent break-up, was tired. So, without a second thought, she signed onto the list of students going home.
On December 20, she finished packing her bags, said good-bye to her friends, and boarded the train with few other people. Lily couldn't wait to get home to her mom, Rosalie Evans, her dad, Jayson Evans, and finally, her sister, Petunia Evans. They were all muggles and enjoyed seeing her and the magic tricks.
At last, the Hogwarts Express pulled into the station and Lily stepped through the barrier.
"Lily! Lily! There you are! Have you got all of your belongings?" Called out a smiling Petunia.
"'Tuna! Yes, I've got all my things! How are you? Did Mum and Dad come?" Lily hugged her sister.
Pushing the cart, Petunia explained that Rosalie and Jayson were at home, cleaning, and then went on to gossip about everything that had happened since September. "And, Lily, you remember Linda, right? And Timothy? Well, they were married early October. It was a wonderful ceremony. Oh! Our neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey split up. Something about communication. Ah! Here is my car!" She babbled on the entire car ride, barely letting Lily get a word in edgewise.
Eventually, they arrived at moderately large mansion that belonged to the Evans family. It was three stories tall and made of large, white bricks and shining French style windows. A flowering garden seemed to guard the path leading the front door. As the car stopped, that very entrance opened and a smiling woman with silky, red hair stepped out. "Lily, darling!"
"Mum! How are you?!" Lily yelled from the car, and then seeing a tall man with dancing, green eyes, she called out, "Daddy!"
"Ah! There's my little girl, how was your trip?" He asked, hugging Lily.
"It was fine, thanks! Will you help with the trunk?" She answered, lugging her heavy belongings behind her.
Jayson laughed and grabbed the opposite end, and together they struggled with it all the way to Lily's room, on the second floor.
"My, my! What have you got in there, Lillian?" Her father asked, mopping his brow.
"If I tell you, you won't be surprised for Christmas." Giggled Lily.
Jayson chuckled and the made their way to the dining room, where dinner was being served.

^^^^

Christmas came and went. On the third day before Lily was to go back to school, Rosalie called her into the living room.
"Lily, dear, if you are not planning to anything shortly, would you please run to the store with Petunia and pick out some veggies for dinner? You know how your sister is about choosing ripe vegetables." She asked.
Lily nodded, chuckling at the memory, and called Petunia down to the car.
They finished at the grocery store quickly and decided to go clothes shopping since they had extra time.
"Oh, 'Tuna, try on this dress!" Cried Lily, holding up a lavender spring outfit that would complement Petunia's tall body.
"Lillian, my dear sister, as long it's a size 9, anything from here will fit me." She laughed. "But I do like it. Let's get it and then head home."
They spent the ride home talking happily about Petunia's new boyfriend, Vernon, who had proposed and been turned down.
"Maybe I'll marry him someday." Mused Petunia, as they pulled into the driveway. "But, I don't know, I guess I just wasn't ready. Oh my God. What's happened?"
The once beautiful white stone was blackened, as if by smoke, and the roof appeared to be crumbling in. The most startling thing, though, was the constellation above the mansion, depicting a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth.
Lily suddenly remembered something that one of the professors had said. Something about a cult of murderers who left that very mark above the houses of their victims.
"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit! We've got to find Mum and Dad!" She cried, running into the ruined house.
Inside, chairs and drawers were strewn around haphazardly throughout the home. Lily climbed carefully over the objects and made her way into the living room, where she had last seen her parents.
There, lying side by side on the floor, Rosalie and Jayson Evans were dead.
"Mum! Daddy!" Lily screamed, shaking their lifeless bodies. The eyes of the deceased were open in terror and their bodies still warm, though no pulse could be found.
Petunia rushed into the room. "Oh my God. Mum...Dad." Her gaze shifted from her parents to Lily, who was kneeling on the floor, sobbing. "You. If you weren't the...the freak you are, they wouldn't be dead! Some those weirdoes in your world did this! They killed our parents! It's all your fault! Get away from them, get away from this house, and get away from me! Just, stay away!" She shrieked at Lily.
"What?" Breathed Lily, shocked out of crying.
"This is your fault. Pack your things and get out." Replied Petunia, ice dripping from each word.
Collecting her things, Lily had no idea where to go, unless...she grabbed the jar of floo powder in her trunk, threw some into the fireplace in the room, and arrived at Kari's house.
The small room was empty, with the exception of a couple of chairs and a table. Kari had not grown up in the lavish lifestyle Lily was used to. All though her mother and father were part of the wizard world, an advantage of sorts.
Suddenly, a door on the opposite wall opened revealing a woman with textured black hair, black-brown eyes, and light brown skin. She turned on the light and saw Lily standing in the fireplace.
"Who are you?" She shouted, taking a step back.
Lily had difficulty finding her voice, and it cracked as she spoke. "I'm...I'm Lily Evans, a friend of Kari's. I know that she is still at Hogwarts but my parents were just killed and I needed somewhere to stay." Once again she burst into tears.
Kari's mom's face softened, "Voldemort, my dear?" She asked gently. "Did you have a skull constellation above your house?"
Lily nodded as she remembered the sight. The horrible, magnificent scene, a sickening green aura around it. "Is that who did this?" She asked.
Nodding, the woman stooped over Lily. "Listen, my name Charlotte. You need some sleep. Don't worry; we'll owl Dumbledore in the morning. I'll give you a mild sleeping potion in the meantime."

^^^^

Lily woke at daybreak the next day in an unfamiliar bed, in an unfamiliar house, with an unfamiliar lady standing over her.
"Lily? Oh, good, you're awake. I've just received a letter from Dumbledore. I'm sorry, but I decided to owl him last night instead. Anyway, he would like you to come back to Hogwarts immediately...he has something that he would like to talk to you about, I think. As soon as you are dressed and fed, I'll escort you there, okay?" The woman said.
The events of last night flooded Lily's mind as she remembered her surroundings. The woman was Charlotte. Her parents were gone.
Stepping out of bed slowly, she pulled on clothes without even looking at them. At this point, Lily was beyond tears. Nothing could express her grief.
An hour later, Charlotte and Lily stepped into the fireplace and with a whirl fell into Professor Dumbledores office.
"Ah, Mrs. Beckman, Miss Evans. I am so sorry to hear of last night's proceedings, Lily. Your parents were honorable people. Now, I wanted you back at Hogwarts right away because, unfortunately, you were not the only one in the school to loose their family to Voldemort. Shortly, we will be joined by Sirius Black; who as you may know, lost his parents last year, Remus Lupin; same time, Arabella Figg; she lost her kin two weeks ago, and Mundungus Fletcher; a fifth year whose family was killed three nights ago." Dumbledore informed Lily.
Lily had no idea actually that Remus and Sirius had lost their relations to Voldemort, only that they lived mostly with James.
In the midst of her thought, the door to the office opened and the four aforementioned people entered.
"Lily, you're back!" Noted Sirius. Then noticing her fallen face, he changed his tone. "What's happened?"
Dumbledore cleared his throat. "Mr. Black, Mr. Lupin, Miss Figg, and Mr. Fletcher, please have a seat. I have gathered you all here under the express wish of the ministry. You have all suffered a loss that most fear, the death of your family from the wand of Lord Voldemort, himself. A few of you, though it may be unlikely, may want revenge. In that case, the ministry wants me to warn you that you can do nothing. But they also want me to say that if you would all like to band together, you can form a group that can train to become Aurors someday, a special kind that solves the mysteries of this cult, instead of fighting them. The only condition is that you will have to work together in the future, after you've graduated. I will give each of you two weeks to think this through and get back to me. You are excused."
Lily looked cautiously around her and got up. An Auror, a good job in which she might be able to avenge the death of her parents, get back under Petunia's good graces. The thought was enticing and Lily knew that unless unforeseen forces took hold, she would accept the offer.
Outside of the office, Remus and Sirius were waiting for her.
They looked at the floor as Sirius spoke. "Hey Lily. I'm so sorry, I know how it feels to come to your house and see your parents just....just lying there and the dark mark in the sky." His gaze shifted to the ceiling as he had to blink back tears.
Remus gave Lily a quick hug. "It's horrible, isn't it?" He asked. She flinched at his touch, still wary of men, but then nodded, smiling sadly.
"Hey, let's go back to the common room, I'm sure Alisa and Kari will be really happy to see you." Said Sirius, motioning down the hall.

^^^^

A week later, Lily and her friends found themselves sitting in Charms class. Today Professor Flitwick was teaching the group of pupils to enchant a rock into speaking.
"Remember, class. The words are 'metamotermouth toa rock'. Pronounced; META-moter-mouth TOA rock'. Okay, begin."
Kari, Alisa, and Lily all looked dumbly at their rock. Finally, skeptically, Alisa raised her wand.
"Meta-MOTER-mouth toa rock!" She cried, bringing her wand to the stone quickly.
Nothing.
"Let me try." Smiled Lily. "META-moter-mouth TOA rock!" She shouted swirling her wand lightly above the small stone.
Suddenly a little voice piped up. "Cheerio, ladies!" The rock murmured heavily. "Anything that I can do for you?"
Exchanging glances, the girls congratulated Lily. "Wow! I can't believe you could do it!" They all exclaimed.
Lily tried to smile and join in the celebration but a sickness overwhelming her was too much to bear.
Alisa was the first to notice the pained expression her friend was wearing. "Lily, you should be happy, I couldn't make the damn rock do anything. (*"Hey, who are you calling a damn rock!" The stone shouted.*) What's wrong?"
The room seemed to be spinning as Lily managed to speak, "I don't feel so goo.." before passing out.
^^^^
Lily woke a few hours later in the hospital ward, the sickness was gone, but now her head throbbed with an obnoxious headache.
"Ah, Miss Evans, you're awake." Madam Glencoe muttered almost too gently. "How are you feeling today? Any better?"
Lily looked at the nurse suspiciously. "Oh, um, I'm better, except for this headache."
Madam Glencoe nodded, smiling. "Good! Now, if you would please sit here for a couple of minutes, I believe that Professor McGonagall would like to speak to you."
Lily sank back into the soft pillow. What was wrong with her? Was something serious happening? Or did McGonagall want to see her for other reasons?
All too soon, the rustling of the Professors robe could be heard. "Good day, Miss Evans. I would like to talk to you about your condition. I've heard that you weren't feeling well earlier and passed out. When you were sleeping, we ran a few tests on you to see what could be the reason for this sudden ailment. You tested negative for a simple cold, the flu, just about everything, until we tried something on a whim. Now, you probably won't be too happy with the problem, especially since the recent death of your parents. I am very sorry to hear about that, by the way. As for your illness, I'm afraid that you won't be rid of it for a long while. Miss Evans, I regret to inform you that...that you are going to have a child. You are pregnant."
Lily listened to this unexpected speech before once again, fainting.

Oh my goodness! Can you believe that? Tee hee hee. Well, how was that kiddies? This story just gets more and more confusing! But I hope that it's good at the same time.
Anyhow, thank you for reviewing, you know who you are! I love you all. Your thoughts and opinions truly are very important to me.
Well, got to make like a banana and put this on the web site. Wait a second. I got to split. That's it.