© Ariana Veelagrace and Clara Maplewood, year 2000-2001



A/N: Suspenseful? Yes. Mysterious? I like to think so. Over? In your dreams.

Just a little note, I'd like to thank a little "bird" for one of the more annoying characters that will show up shortly...not necessarily for the idea of that character, but the personality on which to base him. :o) Luv ya!

*Clara jumps onto the table, wearing a party hat, and opens a can of silly string* HEY! It's our medi-centennial! It's my party, I can cry if I want to...cry if I want to...cry if I want toooo....*She sprays the silly string all over everyone* HAPPY FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY, LILY!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!

VERY VERY sorry that this took so long! I'm going to be on vacation for awhile starting next week and ending...well, you'd all murder me if I told you when the next chapter is coming out.  


On with the show! (and bear with me...I'm making this up as I go along).


The Lily Series

Chapter 50


"Oof!" The air gushed from between Lily's teeth as she landed flat on her stomach. Sirius, however, slid a few meters on his rear end before bumping gently against a huge mirror. When Lily regained her breath, she regarded their surroundings in awe.

Every inch of this hallway was covered with undulating mirrors of all shapes and sizes. Some were huge, floor-to-ceiling sheets of the wavy glass, others as small as the one in the music box. It may have been an illusion of the mirrors reflecting themselves, but there seemed to be other passageways branching off at crazy, zigzagging angles.

Sirius groaned. "Okay. Remind me again why I hang around with you."

Lily chose to ignore that comment, and instead started to inspect the walls of the hallway. "Look at this..." she laid her hand against one of the mirrors and shivered. It was like putting a hand just above a bathtub drain and feeling the tiny suction power of the little whirlpool in the water. "Where are we?"

"I was going to ask you that." Sirius, too, was scrutinizing the mirrors. "Well, I've heard enough of those mystery programs on the wireless to know what to do. They always say, 'what happened last, before we got here?' That one's easy, right? You tapped the mirror, and-"

"Hold it," Lily said, turning around quickly and pointing to him almost accusatively. "You tapped the mirror, too."

He folded his arms pensively, looking upwards in thought for a second, then nodded. "Right. I did. Both of us tapped the mirror, and both of us looked at it. I figure that that's how we ended up here. And how we get around this place," he added.

She smiled excitedly. "Sirius, that's brilliant! I could kiss you!  All we've got to do is find a mirror that's the same size and shape as the one in my music box...out of...all...these." The smile had faded from her face. "It won't be that easy, will it?"

"At least we know how to get back here if we make a mistake," he pointed out.

Lily shook her head. "But what if we wind up somewhere really bad?"

"Like?"

"I dunno...a vampire's washroom or something. Oh, and what about Muggles? If some poor Muggle man's just sitting there, reading the newspaper, and suddenly, a couple of kids fall through his mirror, what's he going to think?"

He smiled dryly. "Pretty lofty talk for someone who just insisted on telling a Muggle police officer that her friend was stuck in a music box."

"Stop! I said I was sorry! And anyway, we're probably closer to finding Mr. Potter than ever now." Lily sat down gingerly, staring at the vast expanse of glass in awe. "At least we know that the music box mirror's got to be near us somewhere, because we came through it, right?"

"Not necessarily. I don't know about you, but I've never been here before, so I don't know how this place works. For all we know, the mirror we want could be miles away. If, that is, this hallway extends for miles."

She settled her chin in her hands, glum again. "Then we're out of ideas. I'm never going to get back to my music box and the jail cell-"  Suddenly, her head snapped up to stare at Sirius with excited eyes.  "Sirius! We don't WANT to go back to that jail cell!"

"Really?" He said sarcastically. "'Cos I was just thinking about how lovely it would be to be sitting back in that little cement room with all the Muggle policepeople giving us the evil eye."

"No, no!" Lily jumped to her feet with a huge smile on her face.  "This is the way out! We just find a mirror that takes us somewhere on this street, then get out of the house or whatever it is, and find Mr. Potter! Oh! And James has to be around here somewhere, right?"

"You know something, Lily? For once, you got the good idea before I did." Grinning like his old self, he drummed his fingers thoughtfully against the wall, supporting himself with that one hand.

"Sirius! Don't-" But the words didn't come quickly enough. Sirius had turned and looked at the paneled glass, and disappeared through a full-length mirror before Lily could stop him. "Oh, no..." Gritting her teeth bracingly, she tapped the mirror and looked into it.




When Lily landed on the wooden floor of what appeared to be a small house, the first thing she heard was a dry whacking sound and the screechy voice of an elderly woman screaming at someone.

"Filthy beggar! Get out o' me house now! Ah've nae money fer ye!  Leave us alewn!" The dry whacking persisted, now mingling with a slight yelping noise.

"Owoo! Hey! Stop-oww! Quit hitting me with that- yowch!" She knew the voice all too well, though she couldn't see its owner.  Getting quickly to her feet, Lily scampered in the direction of the clamoring. She burst out laughing at the sight.

Sirius was running around the room, apparently trying to get back to the mirror, being chased by a rather frumpy-looking witch in frilly pink robes. The witch had angry black eyes, a sourly pursed mouth, and a large broomstick in her hands, with which she was assaulting the protesting Sirius.

Lily thought fast. The only thing that came to mind was the ploy Sirius had used on the Muggle police officer, the one that would have worked if he hadn't muddled his explanation. She rushed into the kitchen and grabbed Sirius by the arm. "Oh, there you are...um...Bob! I've been looking EVERYWHERE for you! Why do you keep troubling the nice people?"

The witch now menaced Lily with the broomstick, wagging it imperiously in her face. "An' who're ye?"

"I'm Bob's sister, Suzie. You know, Suzie and Bob, Bob and Suzie, we're the village beggars, don't you know. Don't tell me you haven't heard of us, we're always...gulp...always running around and breaking into people's houses and taking their money or brooms...may I say, that is a very nice broom?" All this time, the angry-looking woman was forcing them backwards and shaking the broomstick.

"Ah dewn't live in nae village! These be the mountains, an' if ye think it's a village, ye must be addled!"

Lily shook her head. "No, no, I already told you, my name's Suzie, not Addled."

"MAD!" She roared. "Addled means mad! An' ye've got 'til the count o' three tae get out o' me house! ONE!" Lily yanked Sirius back to the mirror. "TWO!" She tapped the glass and shouted for Sirius to do the same as the witch brought her broom down.... "THREE!" On thin air.




The two friends collapsed in a laughing heap on the gleaming mirrored floor, speaking between gasps for air. "What - hehehe - was her -  hahaha! Problem?"

"I dunno, but - haha! I'm glad - teeheehee! We didn't stick around to find - whaha! Out!"

After a few minutes, they were both sufficiently calmed down. Sirius stood up and, careful not to tap the mirror outright, leaned back against it with his arms folded. "Bob and Suzie, Suzie and Bob, is that it?"

"Oh, come on! At least I didn't say that we were coming back from the fizzykiatrist."

"I guess not, but really, the village beggars? Going around stealing people's brooms?" He shook his head sadly. "You need some lessons in the fine art of deception."

Lily ignored him and walked to another shape of glass. "This could take a long time. A really long time."

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "But remember, we don't know anything about this world. Time could be really warped here."

It sent tiny shivers down Lily's spine just at the possibility of how badly time could be warped. "Well, that's not really important. We just have to find our way out. And away from any Scottish witches with big broomsticks and a bad disposition," she added.

Sirius made a little derisive noise and joined Lily at the large, circular mirror at which she was staring, gesturing gallantly. "After you."




Lily was expecting to roll gently but ungracefully to the floor from some moderate height, but this was a dead drop to a thinly carpeted area, already packed with people. She quickly moved to the side so as to avoid Sirius's arrival. When he came flapping through the ceiling-mirror, he landed not on her, but on a tallish girl about Lily's age who was surrounded by her friends.

"Eek!" The girl tilted forward to be caught by the gaggle of her peers, who were now chattering uproariously. She shook Sirius off of her shoulders and hastily moved to the panel of buttons on the wall, punching the "LL" switch angrily. "Get me OUT of here!"

Sirius, who had never quite refined his 'girl' skills, skittered to Lily's side, blushing and muttering embarrassedly. "Er...sorry.  Really sorry."

"Yeah, well, you should be! You don't just jump onto people's backs like that!" The apparent leader, a girl with too much glittery eye shadow and purple-tinted lip gloss snapped at Sirius. "How did you get here, anyway?"

Lily allowed Sirius to hide behind her. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you...where is this?"

"I asked you first!"

"Okay. I got here through the mirror. Where is this?"

"Liar!" The tall girl blared. "You didn't get here through the mirror! That's impossible!"

A rustling of encouragement came from the group, sounding a lot like "Take 'em out, Andrea!"

Andrea narrowed her heavily accented eyes at Lily and pointed a finger at her. "You're looking for some trouble. And so is your stupid friend back there!" She jabbed her finger over Lily's shoulder to indicate Sirius, who was blushing harder than ever.

Lily bit her lip. She recognized the girls' accents as being American, and this was obviously an elevator, but the mirror was too high up for them to reach! Then came the question of where the elevator was headed. Was this a high school, or a business building, or...

The doors slid open with an over-friendly 'ding.' Theme music and neon lights blasted from a designer store in front of them. People rushed by in packs or alone. Fake trees and shrubs adorned the small benches and tiled floors. Lily drew in her breath sharply. What was she going to do with Sirius in a Muggle mall?

"You've got five seconds to get away from us! Five..."

"Deja vu," Sirius muttered.

"Four..."

Lily took one last desperate glance at the elevator mirror.

"Three..."

Sirius followed Lily in hurrying out of the elevator, grinning and making a 'call me' gesture at the girls.

"TWO..."

Andrea's rage had obviously been aroused at Sirius's antics. She abandoned the last number and flew after them, mercifully losing them in a crowd.

Lily kept a tight grip on her friend's wrist, mumbling between her teeth. "A mall...of all places, a mall...an American mall. I just can't believe this..."

"Woooooow." Sirius was looking around at everything in awe. "Look at all the stores....briiight liiiights..."

"What are you, some kind of puppy?" She snapped at him, finally letting go of his wrist. "Haven't you ever seen a mall before?"

He shook his head.

Lily rolled her eyes and kept walking, figuring that he would follow.  After all, she was the one who'd actually been inside a mall before, she was the one who knew where she was going! Well, not really..."Sirius? Where should we try first?" No response. "Sirius?" She looked around on all sides, trying to find him. "SIRIUS!" Of course he picked NOW to get lost! Not even two-year-olds get lost in malls!  They just stay with their mums, and everything's okay! But nooo, Sirius didn't have the brains of a two-year-old, so he went and got himself lost! "Agh!" Lily retraced her steps, looking under and over everything.

"Can I have one of those twisty salty things, please?"

Lily whipped her head up from looking over the rail to the bottom level. The voice was unmistakably his, but where was it...? Then, she spotted him at a little kiosk with a cardboard sign hanging from it. The sign displayed a puffy pretzel and equally puffy writing that said "Pretzel Time."

"Uh, I like to call those 'twisty salty things' pretzels...sir." The teenager behind the counter sneered.

"Okay. I'd like a pretzelsir. How much is that?"

He handed Sirius the pretzel, wrapped in a logo-bearing square of wax paper. "One-fifty."

"One-fifty what?"

"Candy bars!" He snapped sarcastically. "Dollars! Come on!"

"Oh, I don't have dollars. But will this work?" Sirius fished around in a pocket, coming up with three large round Sickles.

"Where the heck do you come from??"

Luckily, he didn't get a chance to answer. Lily grabbed the pretzel out of his hand, shoved it back at the boy behind the counter, and dragged Sirius away. "What were you THINKING?"

"I was hungry!"

"SO WHAT?"

"Those pretzelsirs looked good!"

Lily was breathing hard with frustration. "They're PRETZELS! Not pretzelsirs! Just keep your mouth shut for the rest of the time we're trapped in here!"

He closed his lips and gave her the thumbs-up.

"And don't run off like that again!"

The two worked their way down the hall - which was more like a city street - as Lily scanned the neon glow of store signs, looking for something that would probably have a mirror. "Spencer's Gifts" looked way too weird, "The Science Shop" didn't look very likely, neither did "The Discovery Channel Store," and despite the rumbling of Sirius's stomach, Lily walked right past "Friendly's Restaurant." Finally, "afterthoughts" written in a flowing silver font above a store entrance and shelves of cosmetics inside tipped her off that this was the place to go.

"Come on in," she hissed, "and pretend that you're my boyfriend."

Without a word, he moved to her side and threw an arm around her shoulders, much like when they had first been introduced. He grinned sardonically at all passersby, still not saying anything.

Lily struggled out from under his arm and swept over to a display of long necklaces with silver peace signs at the bottom of them. She slipped one over her head and turned to Sirius. "How does this look?"

Still grinning evilly, he said nothing. Lily kicked his shin discretely. "You can talk now," she mumbled. Then, out loud, "Does this look okay, Brian?"

"I thought my name was Bob."

"It's Brian, Brian! Oh-ho-ho, you're such a kidder!" She stepped on his toes, masking it with laughter. "Now, tell me how this necklace looks on me!"

"Um...peaceful?"

Lily hid her irritation and hailed a passing employee. "Excuse me, do you have a mirror somewhere in here? My boyfriend isn't being of much help..." she glared back at Sirius.

"Right past the key chains," she said, pointing towards the back of the store.

"Thanks. Come on, BRIAN." Lily pulled the bewildered Sirius back to the row of little round mirrors where people were admiring themselves rather shamelessly.

"Heyyyyyy, Andrea! How are you, m'dear? Long time no see!" He waved to the angry-looking brunette who was just a few yards away.  "How's your friend?"

Lily was fairly shaken at the noise Andrea then made. It reminded her of how a bull sounds when it sees red. Her green eyes wide with fear, she shoved Sirius in front of one of the mirrors and tapped it, looking back only once to see him blowing a kiss good-bye to the group of hysterical girls.




"That," Sirius said when they were back in the mirrored hallway, "Was fantastic."

"No, that was stress."

"How do you figure? I met a TON of girls, all of whom seemed rather frantic to get their hands on me, experienced the lovely scent of pretzelsirs, and, in general, had a great time with all the Muggles!"  He smiled widely. "I call that fantastic."

Lily rubbed her temples. "Let me rephrase that for you. You fell onto a girl whose friend was, from that point on, out for our blood, then you took off in the middle of a crowded Muggle mall to try to buy a 'twisty salty thing' with wizard money, then you disputed what I said to be your name. People, normally speaking, don't say that they thought their name was something else than what someone called them!"

He fixed her with a blank look after that confusing sentence. "What?"

"Forget it!" She threw her hands up helplessly. "Pick the next mirror and, if it doesn't bring us somewhere good, just turn back around and tap it, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am." Sirius walked towards a little diamond-shaped one.  "By the way, I'm sorry, I guess. Okay, here we go."