Lily Chapter 14: Dumbledore's Office, a harry potter fanfic

Lily

Chapter 14

For a time, Lily sat in the Infirmary, completely shocked at what James had said. Chrissy? Dead? It didn't make any sense that Voldemort was trying to hurt everyone she loved!

"Miss Evans?" Professor Dumbledore was standing in the doorway. "May I have a word with you in my office?"

"S-sure, Professor." He led her through the corridors, but it was like walking across a half-dream. Nothing seemed too real, as though a mirrored mist had been draped over the castle, making her doubt what her eyes saw. Before she knew it, Lily was standing in the Headmaster's office.

"Please, sit down and make yourself comfortable." Dumbledore said her with a mirthless smile.

She walked over to a small, burnished oak chair and sat down uneasily, noticing a rather extraordinary bird in a golden cage nearby. Then, Dumbledore started talking.

"I think we'd better have a talk. Remember that if you ever have a problem - or a hard, life-threatening decision to make - you can always find me somewhere around and ask me for my advice. The same goes for all of the students here. I've been known to have a good ear or two when someone needs it." Then, he grew a little more serious. "There is one thing in particular that I am curious about. Did Voldemort happen to mention any ultimatums? Any reasons that he had set this trap?"

"No, I asked him what he wanted, and he just said, 'Isn't it obvious?'"

"Are you certain?"

Lily thought hard, though she wasn't in any sort of mood to remember the previous night. "I think...I think he told me that I was a very powerful witch, but that's-"

Dumbledore nodded. "Lord Voldemort senses great magical potential in you, Miss Evans. You are a Muggle-born, are you not?"

"Right."

"Voldemort is possessed by an incredible hatred of Muggles and...their offspring," he said, almost apologetically. "Quite interesting, considering that he is a half-blood himself. As a matter of fact, it was his scorn for his Muggle father that brought him to believing that all Muggles were disgusting and unreliable. A lie, as most sane wizards know. So, he sees a Muggle-born such as you, without a drop of magic blood in your family's veins, and he recognizes your power. That frightens him. He knows that if there is some Muggle-born of great power, that witch or wizard will attempt to defeat him. If
there is one thing that man cannot accept, it is defeat."

Lily's eyes were wide. "How do you know so much about him?"

"You have heard that he attended Hogwarts, of course? I was Transfiguration professor under Armando Dippet. He was a brilliant student, but with too much unchecked hate and anger in him. If he had not turned to the Dark Arts, the things he could have accomplished for wizardkind..." Dumbledore shook his head sadly, his eyes closed. "Is this making any sense?"

"A little. But why isn't he just going after me? Why is he trying to beat down all of the people I love?"

"Voldemort is a very sick person. Simply defeating you wouldn't be enough for him, especially after you defied him as you did last night. I suppose that killing your parents was merely supposed to be a warning of some sort, or a threat." The silver-bearded old wizard took a deep breath and seemed to be looking for the right words. "He wants to hurt your heart first. He wants to tear down your moral supports, your friends and family. It is natural for people to put their faith in each other, that's what love is. By taking away those people who you love, Voldemort is taking away your faith in people. He's trying to single you out, and I'm sure you've heard that there's strength in numbers."

Lily sat on the hard chair, motionless. Voldemort's succeeding, she thought to herself. He's got me right where he wants me, and sooner or later I'm going to be completely alone...What can I do? What can I possibly do?!? To Lily's amazement, she asked the question aloud without realizing it.

"There is really nothing you can do. You'll be safe, as long as you are on Hogwarts grounds."

"But can't he Apparate or Disapparate? He did last night!"

"Not anymore. I asked Professor Flitwick to Charm the grounds against Apparation and Disapparation. There might be some side effects...grass not being quite the right color, that sort of thing."

The idea of a garden full of purple grass was just enough to make Lily smile slightly. Dumbledore smiled back. "Turn to your friends. Chantel, James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter, they would all be willing to comfort you in a hard time. Keep your faith in the good of wizardkind, and stay as good as you are now." There was a kind of finality in his tone that made it clear that the talk was over. As she left the room, he called softly after her, "Christina's funeral will be this Saturday."

She nodded without turning around and started to make her way back to the Infirmary.

When she finally got there, Remus had awakened, but James was asleep again. Remus was pale as a ghost, with wild fear in his eyes.

"Why did I do it?" He asked, not to anyone in particular. He started pounding the pillow violently.

"My mom always said, 'it's better to talk, not act.'" Lily eyed the pillow, which now had its feathers floating about the room.

"Well, punching something has always helped me." he said, obviously not interested in childhood sayings.

"Do you want to talk about anything?"

"Let's think. I just murdered someone. Someone is dead because of me. There is a girl whose parents will never see her again, because of me.
This is the kind of thing they throw people in Azkaban for! No, I don't want to talk about it! I'm a murderer, they'll put me in Azkaban!" His voice rose with panic.

"No, they won't! You're NOT a murderer!"

"How am I going to live with this guilt? I KILLED ONE OF MY FRIENDS!!!" He screamed, looking terribly scared of himself.

"You didn't kill her! Voldemort is the guilty one! If it wasn't for him, you would have spent last night in the Shack, not hurting anyone!"

"Do you really think so?"

"Yes. Go back to sleep, please, you'll feel so much better."

Remus didn't need to be told twice.

When Lily was certain that Remus was sleeping, she looked around. James had woken up and was sitting up in his bed, reading a book.

"What are you reading?" She asked.

"Oh...nothing." He closed it up and put it under his pillow quickly, but not before Lily got a glimpse of the words, 'Advanced Transfiguration.'

"You, doing schoolwork when you don't have to? There's a first."

"I know, I just want to keep my mind off of Chrissy...I guess." He poked the book further under his pillow and avoided her gaze.

"At least you tried to save her, James. That was really the bravest thing I've ever seen anyone do." Lily tried to give him a reassuring smile.

"Does it matter how brave someone is if they never do anything right with being brave?"

She tried to change the subject. "Did Madam Pomfrey get you something for all those cuts?"

"Well, she pointed to a bottle of something and said that I had to rub it on the cuts. When I did, it made me sprout these stupid little flowers all over..." He brushed some of the white, bell-shaped blossoms off of the bed irritably. "I looked like a garden. Then she comes in and tells me that I was supposed to use the bottle on the left, not on the right. Luckily, she had some pruning shears handy."

Lily picked up a handful of the tiny flowers, which she noticed were piled next to James's bed, and threw it at him. He threw one back, and soon they were having a little flowerfight. That is, until Madam Pomfrey thundered out of her office and shooed Lily away.

"Out! I can't have you in here disrupting my patients! Go to your common room and play Exploding Snap or something. You know, that game's liable to burn your..." The chatter followed Lily down the hallway.

Lily found Chantel and Sirius in the Common Room and called "Chantel, I'll meet you up at the dorm, okay?"

"Sure, I'll be up in about ten minutes!"

Lily climbed the staircase, feeling lonely and exhausted. She wasn't a powerful witch, or at least, she didn't feel that way now. She certainly couldn't conquer Voldemort, , so why would he want to hurt her? Of course, Dumbledore had a theory, but the question was, how right was he?

She collapsed onto her bed, her eyes sore and her heart tired. Quite enough had happened for one day.

A very disconcerting dream pervaded her sleep. She, James, and her parents and grandparents were trapped inside a thin glass wall. There was a boy watching them from outside it, a boy with messy black hair, green eyes, and a thin scar on his forehead. Tears sprang to Lily's eyes, because she wanted to get through the glass to the boy. The boy obviously wanted to get through the glass to her, too, but it was no use, the glass was too strong a barrier. She leaned up against the glass and tried to push through, but it stayed fast until she lost her balance and fell through darkness....

And where was this? The Hogwarts Library! But she felt lighter than usual... When Lily looked down at her own hand, it was shimmering white and transparent, like that of a ghost! Suddenly, a book on the table in front of her opened to a page with a green ribbon marking it. She bent to read. It was an entry about...her! "It is believed by some of the greatest magical historians of our day that Lily Evans held a crucial type of magic in her that was necessary to defeat Lord Voldemort. It seems, however, that only after that magic was combined with another type of magic was the Dark Lord overthrown." Beside these sentences was a picture of a petite, red-haired woman holding a tiny baby boy and smiling.

At 11:OO pm, Lily was awaken by a hyper Chantel.

"Lily! Lily! You're never going to believe this! Wake up!" She roared.

"Whaaa.....what do want?" Lily asked, very sleepily. She remembered a book, and a glass wall, but nothing else.

"I'm sorry, but I've got something INCREDIBLE to tell you!" Chantel said, making an effort to be more quiet.

Lily lacked her friend's enthusiasm for the subject. "What is it?"

"James and Sirius and Peter are doing this really really hard Transfiguration spell, we're talking only full-fledged wizards are supposed to do this, and they're going to be able to turn into animals! Sirius said they're going to be Animagi or something like that, and he wants to be a dog!" Chantel obviously felt the need to add that little tidbit, quite matter-of-factly. "Oh, yeah, and Remus? He's a-"

"A werewolf. I knew that, but I didn't know that they were trying to become Animagi. How are they keeping it a secret?"

Chantel put her hands on her hips. "Lily. You must know by now that the Marauders can pretty much do anything they want."

"Oh! Marauders, the Marauders Map...that's them, isn't it?"

"Yah."

"Right...Listen, Chantel, can we please please please talk about this tomorrow? It's really late, and I'm tired."

"Sure, maybe you can ask James about it?"

"Yeah...maybe...." Then she dozed off, wondering if she'd have any more dreams this time.

(A/N: I am sorry, I forgot to add that the Christmas Holidays were taking place while Lily started hearing voices. When Chrissy's funeral takes place, that is when everyone will be returning. Sorry again about that, I guess I got too caught up in the plot of the last few stories that I forgot to add it in.)