© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood

Lily

Chapter 42

A/N: CLIFFHANGERS OF THE WORLD UNIIIITE!!!


 

Lily drew in ragged breaths, her heart beating harder and faster than ever before. If it wasn't Peter, who was it? And why? Was it some other person, working for Voldemort? All these questions were literally dragged from her mind as the mysterious figure pulled her roughly through the undergrowth.

"Hey, we already said that we give up! Come on!"

"Lily? Lily, where are you?"

A tear started to course down her cheek, despite the hand placed firmly over her mouth and nose. What would happen to her? What would Sirius and Remus and James think? Is this what had happened to Eurydice? Was Juno next? Suddenly, her foot latched onto a large tree root, stalling her assailant for awhile. His guttural voice rasped at her as he tugged relentlessly. "Let go, you stupid girl!" He pulled and twisted mercilessly with one arm, the other covering her mouth. "I mean it! Let go!" Now there was a note of panic in his voice, and Lily knew that she was accomplishing her goal. Pain surged through her ankle, but she wouldn't untangle her foot! Finally, he cursed sharply and let go of her, retreating into the forest with all speed.

Lily heard the Marauders crashing through the brush, calling to her. "Lily! Come on!" She sat up against a tree trunk, tears stinging her eyes as she clutched her ankle.

Sirius was the first one to arrive. Instead of looking shocked at her invalidity, he just shook his head as though he had been expecting something like this. "I found her, guys, and wouldn't ya know it, she's been warding off Dark Wizards again. What happened this time, Lil? Some stupid Death Eater come and --" He was silenced by a withering glance from Remus.

"Jeez, Lily, what happened?" Remus stared down at her ankle, gaping at its mangled state. "No, wait, don't answer that. I don't think we really want to know."

"You probably don't," she gasped through pain-clenched teeth.

James and Peter appeared, running in from the same direction. "Sorry. Peter got stuck in some branches..." James rolled his eyes. "Oh, man, Lily, you've really done it this time, haven't you? Well, let's get her to the Hospital Wing, shall we?" The Marauders took a large cloak and held it between them like a stretcher, lifting Lily onto it and starting to carry her back through the woods.

"Hey, I could walk on my own, you know!" She hopped onto her good foot and steadied herself by placing a hand on Sirius's and Remus's shoulders. "Just don't go too fast, and I'll hop back."

They had to go back through the 'legal entrance,' as Lily called it, because she would never have been able to make it up the slope in the Dissendium passageway. Professor McGonagall greeted them with a veritable barrage of furious questions, completely disregarding the fact that Lily was hurt.

"Where have you been? It's a half hour past curfew! What have you been doing all this time? Why are you hopping? And what on earth happened to your hair, Miss Evans?"

It was only then that Lily realized the amount of sticks, dirt, leaves, and, yes, bugs stuck in her hair. "Er, well, you see, it was, er-"

Sirius, who was far more experienced in telling believable fables, came to the rescue. "We started playing a game of hide-and-seek, Deputy Headmistress."

"What in the world is hide and seek?"

"Well, I've got a third cousin-in-law who married a half-blood, and they had a a little son who married a full Muggle, but that turned out to be Remus's fifth cousin, which we both thought to be quite a delightful coincidence, seeing as we kept running into each other at family reunions and the like, and-oh, goodness, I must tell you about this one time when we pelted my second uncle with-"

"Mr. Black, would you please get to the point??" McGonagall snapped.

"Yes, ma'am! It's a Muggle game. Remus's sixth cousin taught it to me. Basically, one person counts to a predetermined number with his or her eyes closed, and the others run and hide."

"What is so amusing about that?"

"It's actually very amusing, for its simplicity, ma'am." Sirius was obviously slathering on the charm, trying to butter McGonagall up. "Well, we started playing a game of hide-and-seek before curfew, and I found these three baboons easily enough, but Lily had chosen such a clever hiding place that we were all quite lost trying to find her. When we found her, Lily had apparently had an encounter with some kind of animal, perhaps a manticore?"

"Don't be ridiculous, there are no manticores anywhere near this village!"

"Right. Er...something less dangerous. Maybe it was a very angry flobberworm. In any case, Lily had a bad encounter with some wild animal, and it obviously messed her up pretty badly. James here was first on the scene, and acted very responsibly, if I do say so myself."

Lily could just hear the unspoken concluding sentence: "and that, ladies and gentlemen of Parliament, is why no penalty should be issued to Gryffindor or any of these students."

It worked. "Well, all right, then. Miss Evans, let's get you to the Hospital Wing now, Madam Pomfrey will patch you up well enough."



Madam Pomfrey stayed true to her reputation of quick, unquestioning relief for any ailment. Lily was released after about fifteen minutes, and headed back to the Gryffindor common room, where Amelia, Juno, and the Marauders were waiting for her. Amelia was seated closest to the arm of the couch, curled up in a little worried ball as far away from Peter as possible. Juno sat with her arms and legs crossed, her entire affect suggesting additude and a very 'don't mess with me' air.

"Hi, everyone." Lily said timidly as she stepped through the portrait hole.

"Lily!" Amelia sprang up and dashed across the room, hugging Lily tightly around the waist. "You're okay!"

"I'm fine, Amelia!" Lily gasped out. "Could you please let go of me?"

"Sirius said you probably got eaten by an Acromantula or something!" She turned around and stuck her tongue out at her brother. "Liar." The pudgy face turned up towards Lily, her eyes shining eagerly. "So what really happened?"

"Um...we were playing hide-and-seek....."




The Christmas holidays were approaching quickly, and excitement was climbing as students bounced cheerily around the school, ecstatic at the looming holiday. Sirius and Amelia had a conversation over breakfast on the Wednsday before the Hogwarts Express left.

"Now, listen, Amelia, I really don't want any more Howlers. It's kind of embarrassing that my little sister is yelling at me, okay?"

Amelia swallowed a bite of sausage and pointed her fork at Sirius. "Well, I can't promise anything about Howlers, but you can stay here if you want."

"Really?" Sirius brightened considerably. "What's different this year?"

"Last year, Dad was in Bejing on Ministry business. This year, he's home! So you don't have to come home and take care of me and mum."

"Great! That's just great!"

"I know I am. Now, get back to your bacon."



That Friday was riddled with thick fog. Students loading their things onto the Hogwarts Express had trouble seeing where the train actually was. Amelia and Juno were saying their good-byes.

"See ya, Lil. I'll send loads of owls if you will," Juno said as she leaned against the fog-slick compartment wall.

"Bye, Juno. See you at the end of the holiday." Lily smiled reassuringly, handing Juno a large carpetbag. "Don't worry. I'm sure Eurydice'll turn up by the time you're back."

"Thanks," Juno said loudly. She had obviously disregarded the last sentence that Lily said. "Bye."

Lily shook her head and turned to see Amelia standing right in front of her. "Girl-to-girl conference. Now." She felt the puffy hand grab her wrist and lead her off to the side. "All right, Lily. I've been quiet for a long long long time, and it's really really hard!" Amelia suddenly wrapped Lily into a tight embrace and spoke in a muffled voice from somewhere around Lily's waist. "How long did you think I was gonna stay quiet?" Before Lily could react, Amelia had let go and whispered in her ear, "I'm going to tell my mummy and daddy." Then, she ran into the train compartment and dragged her luggage in after her.

The train pulled away, leaving Lily only to yell after the tiny face smiling out the window. "Amelia! Amelia, please don't!"

"Don't what?" Sirius's voice questioned from behind her.

"Er...don't tell anyone about the hide-and-seek situation in the woods. It's kind of embarrassing, don't you think?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't mind. But if you don't want anyone else to know how easily that flobberworm twisted your ankle, that's okay with me." The Marauders laughed. "C'mon. Let's get back to the common room." They headed back to the castle, carefully picking their way through the misty shroud that hung over the day.




In the Forbidden Forest, a confrontation was taking place.

"You IDIOT! You let someone else find out? What about the Silencing Charm?"

"Master...I am sorry."

"Who was it? Did she tell anyone else?"

"It was Black's sister...Amelia. I don't know if she told another."

"Do you understand the consequences if she did?"

"Yes, Master. She said - she said that she would tell her parents."

"We can't have that, can we?"

"No, Master."

"The girl will have to die."