© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood
Lily
Chapter 33
The Christmas holiday was about to end. Sirius and Remus came back
on the Hogwarts Express on Saturday. Sirius looked very pale, and was wearing a
large baseball cap.
"Sirius, take that thing off. You look ridiculous!" Lily, luckily,
was well enough to antagonize him. She reached up to swipe it off of his head,
but he danced out of her reach and clutched it.
"No way! This baseball cap is the only barrier
between me and humiliation!"
James smiled. "What, did you get a bad haircut?"
"In a manner of speaking," Sirius mumbled.
"Vanity, thy name is Sirius." James shook his head. "Come on,
knock it off. Nobody's going to care if one side is a little shorter than the
other."
"No, this is REALLY bad."
"He's been like this ever since we boarded the Hogwarts Express,"
Remus said. "I tried every trick in the book, but he just won't take off
that hat."
James shrugged. "Suit yourself. And I'll suit myself." With that, he
took out his wand and said, "Accio cap!"
The hat flew off of Sirius's head, revealing a sight that made even the
compassionate Lily burst into laughter. His hair was completely shaved off on
one side, and the other side was, instead of his natural black, an odd
purple-and-yellow polka dotted pattern.
"Happy now? Amelia got a 'Do-it-yourself
beautician kit.'" He sighed. "Can I please have my hat back
now?" James, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, handed it back.
Sirius jammed it back on his head and walked up to the boys' dormitories, still
grumbling.
That night, Lily lay awake reading in the girls'
dormitory. It was her last night there. She put the book aside and looked
around at the room. There were two more beds, both hung with scarlet curtains
and looking perfectly neat, clean, and peaceful. Neither spoke anything of the
horrors forced upon their previous inhabitants, simply by being Lily's friends.
Just thinking about it send terrible shivering
sensations through her spine and sent her diving for the comfort and security
of the blankets.
The shivers receded, leaving only a frightened Lily, pulling herself back to a
sitting position. There were too many memories in this room...she couldn't
stand to spend another minute, another second inside it! It didn't matter if
she stayed in or not, all of her things would be moved to the fourth year
girls' dormitory anyways. With firm determination never to return to that
dormitory, Lily took up her wand and walked out into the common room.
She sat on the couch and looked into the fire, reminded of what happened on
Christmas Eve. In her mind, she went over the terrible scene, now with all the
words in place. Between that smothering memory and the intense silence, she
jumped a foot into the air when she heard the portrait creak open slowly, then
close with a small thud. Someone had exited...wearing the Invisibility Cloak!
She knew nobody had entered, because she hadn't heard the Fat Lady's voice say,
"Password?"
Lily stood up and followed as quietly as she could. Only Sirius, Remus, James,
and...Peter knew about that cloak, so it could be any one of them. She quickly
checked out the window. The moon was only a pale sliver, and certainly not
full. She followed the creaking footsteps until they turned into a deserted
classroom.
It was a perfectly ordinary classroom,she thought as
she looked around it. There were desks and chairs, but definitely a sense that
it had not been occupied for a long time. Her eyes scanned the room for
whatever could be giving it that odd air until she found it. In one corner,
there stood a tall, ornate mirror with words etched in it: "Erised stra
ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi."
She racked her brain for some ancient language that contained one or all of
those words, but she could think of none. Suddenly, she swept her eyes downward
and saw something that caused her to cry out in shock.
There, standing in the mirror with her, were her parents. Not just her parents,
but...
"Chantel! Chrissy!" She turned around to see
if they were really there, but no, the room was deserted, except for herself and whoever had led her here. But they were in the
mirror! She was sure...Did it show the future? The past?
Maybe the key was in the inscription at the top...
This train of thought was cut off as her arm was painfully twisted behind her
back and a wand held at her face. "Guess who." sneered Peter's voice.
"Ah, Lily, it's such a bad idea to let your enemies know you so well. It
was all too easy for me to set this trap, knowing of your curiosity...you never
were able to mind your own business, were you? I'm going to ask you one more
time, where did you put the dagger?"
Panic flared, but she knew from previous experience that she couldn't
physically overpower Peter. "I didn't put it anywhere!"
He spun her around until she was pushed against the wall, staring into his
face. "I'm going to give you ONE more chance to make this simple for both
of us: Where is the dagger?"
"I don't know!" She couldn't get at her wand like this, not when she
was pushed against the wall.
"Hmm...wrong answer." He smiled, almost like
he was happy that she had said this. "Good thing, though. Gives me a chance to try out this new curse Voldemort taught
me...CRUCIO!"
Lily felt as though her insides were being hollowed out and replaced by red-hot
coals. She was screaming, yelling, writhing in pain, and it still wasn't over!
She was yelling, she didn't know whether mentally or actually screaming it
aloud. "End it! Get it over with now!" It was the worst sensation she
had ever experienced. Slowly, but not painlessly, the horrible agony died away.
Peter was just laughing. Despite the hot tears coursing down her cheeks, he
laughed. "It's much more convenient...much less strenuous for us than the
other way."
"What other way?" she sobbed.
"Did you forget so soon?" his voice was mocking. "Maybe this
will refresh your memory." It was only a small sample of what had happened
Christmas Eve, but it still hurt terribly. He kicked her twice in the ribs.
"I hope that encouraged you..." Then, his voice turned dangerously
low. "I'm tired of playing games. Where is the dagger?"
"Why do you care?"
"I said, WHERE IS THE DAGGER???" He aimed his wand at her again, but
she had taken hers out during the question.
"Expelliarmus!" Peter's wand flew out of his
hand and Lily managed to catch it.
The name Peter shrieked at her was too awful to repeat.
"This is for that horrible curse! Furnunculus!"
Angry red boils appeared on his face. "This is for Christmas Eve! Locomotor Mortis!" His legs locked together. "This
is for that day on the ice! Petrificus Totalus!" He fell to the ground,
completely paralyzed except for his eyes, which burned with a terrible anger. "And this!" Her voice was choked with sobs.
"This is for Chantel! And all the pain you've ever caused and ever will! Serpensortia Multimus!" Huge snakes flew from the tip
of her wand and slithered towards the immobile Peter.
She ran past him and to the door, stopping when a high voice screamed through
the night: "FINITE INCANTATEM!"
Peter, shaking with ragged breaths, got to his feet. "Nice tricks. You're
a powerful witch, no mistaking that. But you forgot one tiny thing. One little, vital detail." He crossed the room to her
and put a hand on the doorknob, whispering in her ear. "Lord Voldemort is
my protector, and he does not fail."
He uttered a quiet spell to erase all marks of a struggle from the room and
opened the door. Dim candlelight shone in his eyes as he smiled and cordially
extended a hand, prompting her to exit the room.