Lily looked up at a tapestry of a flock of birds roosting in a tree. Lily looked closely and realised that the birds were ravens. Lily shrugged and then looked at her piece of parchment.
"Nimble wimble?" Lily said uncertainly. That did not sound anything like a password. The tapestry was pushed to the side like someone opening some curtains and Lily walked in through a small passageway concealed in the wall. She walked through a small tunnel and came out into a large common room filled with small tables and a few odd sofas around a fireplace. There were people walking around everywhere and talking quickly. Everyone seemed to have changed either into their own clothes or their robes. Lily felt slightly out of place, she knew she shouldn't be in the Ravenclaw Common room and she was still in her dress robes. Lily stepped into the common room but no one noticed her. A few people glanced at her but kept talking.
"Excuse me!" Lily shouted over the noise. No one listened to her. Lily tried again but only a few people looked. Slightly annoyed Lily stepped on a chair and pulled out her wand. She aimed it at the ceiling and there was a loud crack like someone had pulled a trigger on a gun. This caught everyone's attention and Lily felt slightly shy standing on the chair.
"Now that I have you attention!" Lily said.
"What are you doing here Lily?" asked a Ravenclaw seventh year prefect.
"If you let me speak I will tell you." Lily said impatiently. She still had to go and visit the Hufflepuffs. "I have been sent by Dumbledore to inform you that you are to stay in your common rooms until further notice." Lily said glancing at the paper. "I also need the prefects to count how many students are in the Ravenclaw tower and tell me if there is anyone missing." Lily said. A few people looked at her. The Prefects seemed a bit confused "Ok, lets do this the muggle way, First years line up over there, second years there, third years, fourth years, fifth years, sixth years and seventh years" Lily said pointing around the room. The Ravenclaws complied quickly and soon Lily had confirmation from the prefects that everyone was there. Lily nodded and got off the chair. She felt the tingling sensation in her abdomen again and rubbed it slightly.
"Lily, what's going on? The head of house normally comes to tell us these things" asked Lee Chang. Lily looked at her.
"The teachers are busy. James and I have to go to all the houses and count them all. Dumbledore won't tell us exactly why." Lily said. "Ok, Sixth and Seventh year prefects please come with me." Lily shouted. Four students detached themselves from the mass of Ravenclaws and followed Lily out of the common room.
"Where are we going now?" asked a sixth year prefect.
"We have to go to the Hufflepuff common room." Lily said. She felt the discomfort in her abdomen fade away slightly. I hope Professor Hamish hasn't removed anything Lily found herself thinking. They went down a few stairs and came to the first floor. Lily knew there was a large statue of a woman here but she had never thought it was to protect the Hufflepuff dormitories.
"What's the password?" asked a prefect. Lily looked at the parchment.
"Mandragora" Lily said. The statue moved away. "Wait here and if anything happens shout for me." She said to the Ravenclaws. They all nodded and got their wands out. Lily walked through the door and into a large dark yellow room. Like the Ravenclaws the students had all changed and were milling around trying to figure out what was happening.
"Lily!" said a seventh year girl in surprised.
"Can the prefects count to see if there are any students missing?" Lily said to the girl. She nodded and set about organising the Hufflepuffs.
"Why was the ball stopped?"
"Why isn't professor Sprout here?"
"What's going on?" came the questions.
"I don't know. I've just been told to count everyone, call the prefects of the upper two years and tell everyone to stay in their common rooms or dorms." Lily said scribbling down the number of Hufflepuffs.
"Wait there's someone missing." Said a boy with fair hair.
"Who?" Lily said, her head shooting up.
"Charlie Kinnear." He told Lily. Why did Lily know that surname? He was Jenny's date!
"Ok, everyone stay, sixth and seventh year prefects with me. The Ravenclaws are waiting outside." Lily said. She was followed out by the prefects and they joined the Ravenclaws who were starting to talk idly.
"Ok, we have to go to Slytherin now." Lily said with disgust.
"What? Why?"
"We don't have to go in, James is getting the Prefects. He thought it was safer." Lily said, a smile playing on her face.
"Please don't rub in the fact that you got James." Said a tall black haired girl wearing Hufflepuff robes. Lily rolled her eyes and made her way to the dungeons. As she got to the entrance to the dungeons James came out followed by four smirking prefects in green.
"Lily." James said happily.
"Oh, it's mudblood Evans." Drawled Jeffrey Benson.
"Shut up!" James said rounding on Benson.
"Why?"
"Say one word about her or I'll-"
"James, go and get Remus and the others." Lily said. "I can handle it." James frowned uncertainly before giving Lily a quick peck on the cheek and rushing up the stairs.
"Wasn't you hair in a bun earlier?" sneered a Slytherin girl.
"Yes it was." Lily said. "Now I want you to partner up with one seventh year with a sixth year for protection. Dumbledore has ordered that we patrol the corridors for the whole night." Lily said.
"The whole night? We'll be knackered." Complained a Hufflepuff, "I've got loads of homework to do."
"Well you should have got it done earlier shouldn't you?" snapped a seventh year Ravenclaw.
"Ok, fine, we'll take shifts. If it's not your shift you're up in the Prefect common room. I want one pair from each house doing six hours." Lily said impatiently.
"What about You and James?" asked a Ravenclaw. "You're probably going to just sit around."
"No, we'll go on patrols as well." Lily said.
"Yeah, she's probably going to 'patrol' with Potter and then let someone get caught." Sneered the female Seventh years.
"Ok, Slytherins get to patrol the whole night. The rest of you get into your partners, in six hours I want the first pair to come back to swap, we'll send the Gryffindors when they arrive" Lily said. The Slytherins were going to protest when Lily turned on her heel and started up the stairs followed by the four prefects that had time off.
* * * *
Lily pulled her wand out and looked at her reflection. She still looked as good as she did earlier but she didn't think that she ought to wear her dress robes out on patrols.
"So where did you and James Disappear off to earlier?" asked Hilary Game, a Ravenclaw Prefect.
"We went for a walk." Lily said quickly. She felt the discomfort return and she bit her lip slightly.
"Yeah, that would explain why your hair was suddenly down." Hilary said, clearly not believing her. Lily knew that Hilary was one of James' ex's and was insanely jealous of Lily.
"Well we got a bit distracted." Lily said.
"With each other's mouths" smirked the Hufflepuff seventh year girl Jamie Korbet. Jamie and Hilary started giggling and Lily flicked her wand. She had suddenly changed into a pair of low slung bark blue jeans and her white turtle neck jumper. She tucked the wand down her sleeve.
"Ok, that's enough." Lily said. "This is serious, the stuff the Dumbledore wants us to do. There's already one student missing." Lily said
"Who?" asked a sixth year.
"Charles Kinnear." James came running into the common room followed by Remus and the other two sixth years.
"Jenny's missing." James said breathlessly. Lily went straight to him.
"What!" Lily asked him.
"She was last seen with her date." Remus said. "April was the last one to see her. Jenny and Charles was going out for a walk, a few minutes after you and James left."
"Do you think Charles is a deatheater?" asked a sixth year Gryffindor.
"No, he can't be because he's missing to" Lily said.
"Besides he's a muggle born wizard." Said Jamie.
"Jenny's missing," Lily muttered to herself. How could that happen? Jenny was Lily's best friend, she couldn't be missing. Lily didn't want to lose someone else who was close to her. James, sensing Lily' distress pulled her into a tight hug.
"Ok, what ever Lily organised I want you, Hilary to organise the Gryffindors into doing it." James said. Lily could feel his chest vibrate as he spoke. Lily could feel the desire to let go start to emerge again. She quickly let go and felt her head swimming. Jenny was gone, her parents were dead, her sister pretended that she didn't exist and she desperately wanted some privacy with James but couldn't have it. Hilary sorted the Gryffindor prefects into groups and set the first few off. On top of everything Lily felt she could feel the discomfort again. She'd read that you shouldn't be able to feel anything with a contraceptive spell.
"Lily," James asked hesitantly as he watched Lily's brow furrow and her hands moving indecisively to her head then going back down to her sides. James touched Lily's shoulder but she batted him away. As much as she wanted to be with James, the lack of privacy was really getting to her. And Jenny, Lily had only known Jenny for six years but other than April, who Lily considered a sister, Lily loved her a lot and considered Jenny her closest friend. Lily sat in the nearest sofa and stared at the fire.
"Lily." James whispered. All the other prefects had wandered off to the corner or were flicking through a few books on a bookshelf they had in the common room. "Dumbledore will find her." James said.
"What if he doesn't? What if he doesn't?" Lily said. She could feel herself shaking and James put his hand on her shoulder.
"He will, I don't doubt him for a minute, he will find Jenny and she'll be safe." James said trying to comfort Lily. She frowned and hugged herself.
"I feel ill" she said looking at him. James sighed and tucked a strand of her rich dark red hair behind her ear.
"Don't worry." James said kissing her forehead. Lily rested her head against the back of the chair and looked around. Everything seemed drearier then it had ever been, she felt worse about Jenny gone missing then her parents dying. A few moments later the door opened and Professor McGonagall came into the prefect common room followed by, Professor Grout and Professor Flitwick. The group of Prefects that had been out patrolling strolled in.
"Prefects please return to your houses, Lily, James, that includes you" McGonagall said. "Professor Flitwick will escort the Ravenclaws, Professor Grout the Slytherins. Please go." McGonagall said. Flitwick and Grout indicated for their houses to follow them and soon Prefects from Gryffindor and Hufflepuff were left. Lily felt the bottom of her stomach disappear. This could only mean bad news.
"Please come to the meeting table and sit down." McGonagall said very seriously. James helped Lily out of the chair and led her to the meeting table. Lily sat in her usual seat on one side of the table and James sat on the opposite side. McGonagall looked around the table but avoided eye contact with Lily.
"I am afraid that there will be new rules imposed on the houses from now on. All students are not allowed to leave their common rooms without an escort. Notices will be put up on the school notice board and the headmaster will be making an announcement tomorrow." The door to Prefect common room opened and Lee Chang, the fair-haired boy from Hufflepuff and April walked in accompanied by Professor Hamish.
"What's going on?" April asked when she saw everyone looking seriously.
"Please, take a seat next to Lily." McGonagall said. Lily felt her abdomen give a slight cramp and put a hand to it and tried to calm it. She glanced around and saw Professor Hamish looking at her. Lily turned away and watched as April took a seat next to Lily. April glanced at Lily and took her hand.
"What's going on?" April whispered as the others took their seats. Lily shrugged and looked back at McGonagall.
"As I was saying, now that everyone is here. I am afraid two students had gone missing and our worse fears were realised." Lily felt like she was jumping off a cliff. "We would give you this news in the headmaster's office but as most of you were prefects we thought it may be better to tell you here." McGonagall took a deep breath and her eyes flicked to the fair-haired boy, April, Lily then Lee. "Two students have been found dead by the Forest on the Edge of the lake. These two students were Charles Kinnear" McGaonagall hesitated as the Hufflepuffs gasped and stared in shock, "And Jennifer Chang." She said slowly. Lily closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to try and calm the panic rising in her throat. She felt April's grip on her hand tighten. April didn't know how to react, Jenny was one of her best friends. Jenny's sister didn't seemed to have processed this piece of news and looked like she was in the process of letting it sink in. The other Gryffindors were shocked and started whispering among themselves.
"Who killed them?" Remus whispered. His voice seemed like a strangers, it was quite deep and fairly hoarse.
"We believe it was the deatheaters that were hanging around the entrance earlier this evening. Have you been informed of that?" The prefects shook their head. "Good but I am very very sorry for your loss and Professor Dumbledore has cancelled the next week of lessons for you to grieve. Friends and family of Miss. Chang and Mr. Kinnear will be given permission to attend their funerals." McGonagall said. Her voice was choking slightly and she had to stop. The Prefects started to get up and file out of the room. Everyone Except Lee Chang, April, Lily, James and Remus. Lily opened her eyes and stood up and headed towards the door. She couldn't stand being in the room. She had loved this school because it was an escape from the troubles of the outside world. The worst that ever happened at Hogwarts was a few insults from the Slytherins and the odd bit of news that someone had died. But nothing worse then that ever happened, especially to Lily's friends. Jenny wasn't dead, she couldn't be. Why would Voldemort want to kill a full-blooded witch? Lily wasn't looking where she was going and bumped into Professor Hamish.
"Sorry." Lily said, her voice shaking slightly. Lily turned to look at her friends. April was as pale as she had been, the tan that she had been trying to work on since the summer had completely faded. Remus and James were silent, at a loss at what to say. Suddenly a sob broke the silence and Lee started shaking. Lily and April immediately went to her side.
"Jenny," Lee said between sobs. Lily held her tightly and Lee cried into her jumper. "She's my sister."
"She was our sister to" April whispered, tears falling down her cheeks. James got up uncertainly and looked at Remus.
"Please return to your common rooms before two." McGonagall said as she left the Prefect common room.
Professor Hamish stayed behind to watch over the distraught teens. She normally tried to detach herself from her students but she felt a tear come to her eyes.
"Come on" Hamish said after about half an hour of the teens crying. April and Lee clung together and Lily was in James' arms. Remus was still sitting in his seat looking stunned. The students nodded and followed Hamish out of the prefect common room. As they walked towards the Ravenclaw Common Room to drop Lee off. Hamish found it unnerving that the students weren't talking and that Lily and James weren't holding hands. She had grown very used to seeing Lily and James going everywhere together and the small group of friends, including Sirius and Jenny laughing constantly.