Hey guys! You know, since I haven't been doing any writing recently, I was thinking about doing a short story on my favorite movie: "The Mummy". Just a thought. Has anyone else seen that movie? Does anyone have any real-life Egyptian villains? Because if I do it, I want it to be with real stuff, just like in the movies. And I'm not afraid of some good research, either. LOL! Tell me your thoughts, or what you might like to see, since you are the fabulous readers who would be reviewing it!! Hehe!

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Chapter 26

Death Eaters and Disappearances

The next week was one of Lily's worst at Hogwarts. Lily was actually considering going home for Easter Break the next week. She found that she was laughing so much less when she wasn't a friend with the Marauders. And Hogwarts was so much more boring without James and Sirius's pranks every other afternoon.

Although, she did notice that Peter seemed very pleased with himself. He was basking in glory with his friends. Every chance he got, he would smirk at Lily as though to say "this is how it should be." Sometimes, Lily found herself wondering if Peter was the one behind Lily's pain.

Lily couldn't help but feel bad for Belle. She found herself flitting from Lily to Madison, trying to get them to apologize. What was Madison's excuse?

"Lily's tried to steal every boy that ever liked me. And I hate her."

But Lily discovered that she was willing to forgive and forget everything, now that she resolved that she didn't love James. But Madison was not interested. She had found new acquaintances with a large group of Slytherins including Shawn Lestrange, Andrew Rosier, Charlie Travers and none other that Malfoy and Snape. Whenever a Gryffindor passed Madison, they would hiss "traitor" and people like James would just ignore her completely. But Madison didn't appear to be bothered.   

Lily had done her best to avoid James in the corridors. Even if she didn't love him, every time she looked at him, she felt oddly humiliated. So the way to cope was to ignore him.

But after a few days, James actually tried to patch things up. Lily, however, wasn't quite ready to let him off.

"Lily, can't we talk about this? Please?" He begged one lunch break.

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

It was a cruel game, but Lily was cross. She wasn't sure how else to show him her feelings. Finally, she found that his attempts to make her notice him were getting aggravating. Now, every time he saw her, he would beg to be forgiven.

"Jesus, James! You don't even know what you're apologizing for." Lily sighed.

"But I can't stand having you so mad at me all the time." James said, giving her a sad frown.

"Can't you just back off?!"

"You're mighty cute when you're angry, Lily…" He teased.

"That's just what I thought you'd say." She said, snubbing his joke.

He sighed. "Okay. Fine; no more jokes."

"That's not what this is about, James."

"Well, then can you clue me in, or something?!" Said James in frustration.

"Just leave me alone. Please?" Lily frowned, and she left the common room.

After that argument, he approached her in the library later that afternoon.

"Hi Lily." James said softly, as though he was afraid she was a bomb about to explode.

"What are you doing here?" She asked tensely, glancing up from her Charms homework. "I thought the Marauders never set foot in a library…"

"There's this article… in the Daily Prophet. I found it this morning. I thought it might, er, interest you." James said ignoring her comment, and handing her the newspaper.

"When will you give it a rest?" Lily said as she eyed him with a mix of frustration and confusion, but she opened the paper.

Death Eaters Advance

Who can you really trust these days? Writes Rita Skeeter Daily Prophet Reporter. It seems that every other day, there's another sighting of You-Know-Who's henchmen, called Death Eaters. Dressed in all black, these men and women are brutal and unforgiving.

Just a few days ago, as the Daily Prophet can exclusively reveal, there was a large meeting of Death Eaters in Knockturn Alley. There, they arose quite a disturbance, shouting their undying faith for their Lord. Dark Marks could be seen flashing through the sky all afternoon, until the Ministry of Magic arrived. Unfortunately, they were too late, and the Death Eaters had Disapperated.

Yesterday, Death Eaters appeared on a Muggle street, and tortured many innocent Muggles. Ten were killed. The Ministry arrived with as many Aurors as they could get their hands on. Sadly, one Auror was killed before the Death Eaters Disapperated again.

The Mistress of Magic, Patricia Welling, begs everyone to stay calm, "The Ministry is doing the best it can to get this Voldemort character behind bars at Azkaban. But, I'm afraid that he is getting out of control."

Unfortunately, the number of Death Eaters is increasing…

Lily tore her eyes away from the page to look at James. He was watching her intently.

"What is this?" She asked him, putting aside her vow of silence.

"I think it means Voldemort's getting stronger." Said James. "Keep reading, that's not all."

…Also, there have been some sightings of Death Eaters near the Wizarding School, Hogwarts. Why they are traveling there, we cannot say. But what will Headmaster Dumbledore do about this?

Ministry members say that Dumbledore point-blank refuses to get protection for the students. "He doesn't want us to post Dementors at the School's entrances! If it were me, I would have brought some in a long time ago." Welling says.

Perhaps the School Governors should reconsider Dumbledore being the Headmaster of the school; especially if he declines fortification for his students.

"Now what do you think?" James asked. "Crazy, isn't it?"

"What is she saying, get rid of Dumbledore?" Lily exclaimed. "He's a wonderful Headmaster!"

"And can you believe that even more Death Eaters were sighted near here?"

"James!" Lily cried. "They're after the stone!"

"What? The Stone of Rialle?" James repeated.

"Yes! Moody did say it was hidden here!"

"Shhhhhh!" Screeched Madam Pince, the librarian, over her horn-rimmed glasses.

"But… why now?" James whispered.

"I guess it's strong enough for Voldemort now. Either that, or he's ready to use it." Lily replied.

She bit her lip as she looked up at James. He looked serious. Lily slowly started wondered if this meant they were friends again…

"We can't let them." James decided.

"What?"

"We can't let them get that stone." James said again. "It would mean total destruction for the whole wizarding world."

"I'm sure that Dumbledore would have thought of that, James." Lily replied. "I mean, he's the one protecting it…"

"Sure he's protecting it, but not from someone as tough as Voldemort."

"But what can we do?" Lily asked in wonderment.

"I dunno. But I'll think of something."

"You always do." Lily smiled, rolling her eyes.

"That's because I'm the brains of the operation. It's my job." James grinned and winked. But when both of their smiled faded off their faces, they were still staring at each other.

Suddenly, James stuck out his hand. "Friends?"

Lily studied him for a moment tentatively. Then she smiled, and shook his hand. "Always was."

"Good." James replied. "I have to go finish my homework… talk to you later?"

"Yeah." Lily nodded. "But James?"

"Hm?"

"Maybe we should just keep our heads down. I mean, this whole crystal thing doesn't concern us really." Lily said uncertainly. "What if Voldemort finds out? Things would never be the same…"

"Finds out what? That we're trying to stop him?" James replied. "Let him try! Lily, listen: I have a feeling that if Voldemort continues to rise without being stopped, he's going to ruin everything our Ministry has worked so hard to create. And I'm certain that things aren't ever going to be the same again anyway. This," He said, shaking the newspaper, "isn't the first Death Eater sighting recently. There's been hundreds. See, my Dad works at the Ministry. He's told me that there's loads that the Ministry's trying to keep under wraps these days."

"Like what?" Lily asked breathlessly.

James took a quick look behind his shoulder, and then leaned in a little closer. "Well, for one, Augustus Rookwood went missing last month."

"Augustus Rookwood? The Unspeakable?"

"Yeah. He went off on a job for his Department of Mysteries two months ago, and he never came back. Nobody's seen him."

"He just vanished?"

"Without a trace." James sighed. "And if you ask me, he's not the type to just run off someplace and bide his time. Real busybody, that Rookwood. Never wastes a minute, according to my dad."

"So you think it's linked to Voldemort?"

"Oh, without a doubt. I mean, nobody really knows what those Mysteries people are up to. Rookwood could have loads of valuable information for him." James nodded. "But yeah. I'm sure that things aren't going to be easy. And there's no way James Potter is going to 'keep his head down'. No sir." He paused, and smiled. "Well, I really do have to go. I'll see you."    

"Whatever." Lily laughed. She shook her head, and returned to her work with a grin on her face. And even though she'd fought against it, she felt relieved to have James back as a friend.

But the Daily Prophet report was still eating at Lily slightly. Was James right? Were the Death Eaters coming for the Stone soon? Or could they possibly be after James himself?