Lily Chapter 51: No Qualms, a harry potter fanfic

A/N: I'm TERRIBLY sorry for the delay! A rather...extended vacation was taken by both Clara and myself, but don't worry, no more are planned for awhile. :o) With a lack of nothing better to say, shall we roll on?

Lily

Chapter 51

After the expected tumble to the floor, Lily's first impression was that they had re-entered the mirrored passageway. However, a closer look revealed that this place was much darker and smaller, but every bit as covered in mirrors. The hardwood floor was littered with hand mirrors and old newspaper clippings. Lily craned her neck to read some of the headlines.

"MIFFLEBEY'S SHOP BURNED TO THE GROUND BY ANTI-MUGGLE ACTIVISTS!"

"LOCAL STORE OWNER DISAPPEARS FROM PUBLIC EYE!"

And then, a shred of an obituary: "A beloved wife and mother, Mrs. Mifflebey passed away shortly after her husband's disappearance, both events having occurred under mysterious circumstances." The picture showed a thin woman with tawny hair and a big smile.

"Creepy." Lily was drawn out of her reverie by Sirius's voice. "This place gives me more heebie-jeebies than that old witch with the broomstick. Hey, look at that!" He jogged over to an old desk pushed against the far wall of the room. One of its legs had fallen off and in its place was a thin spell book. Sirius sat down in the swivel chair and started examining the top of the desk.

"Sirius! Stop, that could be someone's private stuff!"

"Oh, come on, I'm not going to take anything...too big." He produced a bobby pin from one of his pockets, unlocked the main door, and started going through it. "Look at all this stuff! I'll bet even McGonagall doesn't have this many spell books in one drawer!"

She hesitated, then hurried to look over Sirius's shoulder. "What kind of spell books are these?" Branded on the cover of each was a shiny green symbol...the Dark Mark! Lily went white. "Close the drawer and lock it!"

"What, is somebody coming?"

"No, just trust me! It's Dark magic! We're in a Death Eater's house!"

"Oh, boy." Sirius dropped the book he had been leafing through and slammed the drawer, wiggling the bobby pin in the lock until it clicked. "We'd better get out of here. We can't even fight back if he-"

"Or she," Lily corrected.

"Whatever. If he or she tries something on us. At least, you can't. I could transform, right?"

She grabbed his arm and started pulling him towards one of the mirrors. "Let's stop talking and get going!"

"Okay."

Suddenly, she heard something. "Wait!"

"What?"

"Shh! I think someone's coming!"

"Then let's go!"

"No, wait!" She lowered her voice until it was just barely a whisper. "If you transform, we can take whoever it is by surprise! We could capture them!"

Sirius was quiet for a second, then started to smile. "You're joking, aren't you?"

"No! We could really do this!"

"You've lost your marbles! I'm talking to a crazy person! A lunatic!"

"Stop it!"

"You have GOT to be one banana short of a bunch if you think I'm going to take a flying leap at a full-grown, you-know-who-following, spellbook-collecting Death Eater!"

"Shut up! They'll hear you!"

"I'm leaving. I don't know if you're coming with me, but I'm getting my tushie out of here." He tapped the mirror once, then a voice was heard saying a short, unintelligible spell. A ball of white light exploded from the center of the room and made all the mirrors swim with mist.

The same voice yelled "Expelliarmus!" Lily turned around and gasped as hers and Sirius's wands flew out of their back pockets. She recognized the man who caught them as having been at the Three Broomsticks that night in Hogsmeade, but it was not who she had expected.

Instead of the grey-eyed, hawk-nosed recluse who had been muttering darkly to himself, it was the one Remus had pointed out as giving him a "bad feeling." There was only one difference from the first time she had seen him to now: this time, his kind hazel eyes had receded into an icy green, narrowed to slits with intense anger.

"You don't know me," he breathed. "You don't know me, Lily Evans. But I know you." Lily flattened herself against the mirror behind her as he advanced on her, pointing threateningly with his wand. "You, who are finally at my mercy, are the little wretch who ruined my life the instant you decided to be born. And I know something else. Before I'm through with you, you'll pay most dearly. Death will come as a mercy."

Sirius made a furious movement forward, but the man met him in the middle with a wand at his throat. "Ah-ah-ah. It's her I want, but I have no qualms with killing you first."