A/N: Hello all! It's been quite a while since I've updated this story. I thank everyone who has been patient!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or his friends or his universe or his anything else. Blah-de-blah, blah, blah.
Enjoy!
Illicit Love
Chapter Fifteen
Dark Diva Proposal
Lily sprung up from the cold stone floor immediately. She glanced around the room and found it was quite dark and dank, smelling of mold. This must have been the dungeon, she thought. She then spotted a figure sitting in a high-backed chair – a woman who looked ageless and absolutely gorgeous. She was the most beautiful woman Lily had ever seen – even more so than the women she sometimes watched on the television when she was at home for the holidays.
Her brown hair fell in shiny locks to her waist. She was very voluptuous and the pale yellow dress she wore showed her curves marvelously. She blinked her large, kohl-lined doe eyes, and then her full, pink lips pulled into a small smile.
"Lily Evans," she drawled. "I knew you'd be coming. I have the Sight, of course; but then again, it's only natural that you'd want to come here."
Lily held her aching elbow in her hand and felt the blood trickle between her fingers. She also had the deep suspicion that the pulsing heat in her left cheek meant that a livid bruise would be rising there soon, and there was another trickle of blood running from her eyebrow down the side of her face.
"Oh, look at you," the woman said, standing up and tossing her long hair over her shoulder. "You're all filmy and dirty and bloody. No good." She walked towards the redhead who backed up instantly. "Don't worry child, I'm not going to hurt you. Dear me," she added, touching a strand of Lily's auburn mane, "we should really get you cleaned up."
"Who are you?" Lily asked shakily. The woman laughed seductively.
"There'll be time for questions later, dear. Just relax and everything will be explained." She clapped her hands twice and two handmaidens came from the shadows.
"Miss Evans is a guest in our home, make her feel that way." She clapped her hands again, then left the room.
The two handmaidens led Lily into a beautiful bathing room with silk tapestries on the walls and a large candle chandelier. There was a pool-sized tub, much like in the prefects' bathroom, that emanated a luscious scent of strawberries and champagne. The two women started undressing Lily, and at first she resisted, but the aroma of the tub made her drowsy and she relaxed and let the maids do their work.
They slipped into the tub and the handmaidens used the softest sponges to scrub Lily's body. They healed her wounds swiftly and rubbed honey lotion on her skin. They dressed her in a green silk robe and sandaled her feet in green leather thongs. Her hair was swept into an up-do and she felt like a queen.
"What's going on?" Lily finally asked. The two women just smiled cryptically and steered her towards a table and pulled the robe off her. Now this is kinky, she thought before they laid her on the table face down and started massaging her body.
This was way weird.
But very nice.
After probably an hour of heaven, the women stood Lily up. One snapped her fingers and an array of articles of clothing appeared on the table. The other woman picked up an item that was a skimpy piece of underwear. Fair enough, Lily thought, this doesn't change anything. But the next item looked suspiciously like a satin corset. Lily's eyes widened.
"Oh no, you're not putting that thing on me – you can't, it's inhumane." Bu they were already slipping it over her head. One woman held Lily's sides while the other jerked the strings in the back. Lily let out a grunt with each tug; she could feel her breathing become shallow because of the pressure.
They then put her in a velvet dress and steered her to a mirror. Lily looked at her reflection in shock. The corset actually did wonders for her figure – and never had she ever had so much cleavage. It was sexy, really, even though she never did like the idea of using her body to be attractive.
"I knew you would like it."
Lily turned swiftly. The woman had reappeared. "Who are you?"
"I am Mina Ramortia," she said.
"Are you Josephine's mother?"
"Depends on how you look at it," said Mina. "Yes, she's my daughter, but not biologically because I can't have children."
"Oh, I'm sorry," Lily said.
"No, no, don't pity me – it's not what you think. You see, I am a Vampire; I have been ever since I was twenty years old in the year fifteen twenty-four. My husband married me before he knew, and now he is bound to me because I have taken his blood – it's a very old Vampire spell I hope you will someday understand."
Lily seriously wondered what that was supposed to mean. But Mina continued:
"After a few years, I decided it was time for an heir. My husband thought it was a good idea also. So we kidnapped Josephine when she was a year old. And since then I've been trying to get her to follow after me, but all she wants is to love James the natural way, instead of by blood bondage. She wants to prove that she can beat me – an immortal, no less – and get the richest man on the planet's son to love her only by courting and natural charm."
"Well, it hasn't been working," Lily said before she could bite her tongue. Mina didn't seem to mind.
"I know. Daft, isn't she?" She touched Lily's hair, which was wavy and tousled from the previous up-do. Mina snapped her fingers and Lily's hair went from frizzy to sleek and shiny like Mina's.
"So, what I want with you is to help me. You've already got James Potter wrapped around your little finger. No, don't try to tell me differently – I've seen with my own eyes how the two of you are together. Besides, you're sweet and smart and ambitious – you'd be a far better heiress than Josephine."
Lily's body seemingly jolted at the last statement.
"Your what?" she asked, taken aback. The woman only smiled, this time showing her teeth, and sure enough they were there.
The teeth of a Vampire.
Before Lily could do anything else, Mina had her in her arms. Say you'll be my daughter, Lily." Then she sank her sharp fangs into the creamy flesh of Lily's neck.
* * *
"She bitches and moans about me being gone when she wakes up, and now look at what she does!"
James and Sirius were sitting at the Gryffindor table for breakfast and James had described how Lily wasn't to be found when he woke.
"James, it's okay. The two of you just had a row and maybe she's upset about it."
"But I can't help but think that she's gone off and done something stupid." He put his head in his hands. "If she's gone to the Ramortia house...who knows if she'll make it out alive!" Sirius patted James's back sympathetically.
"Everything will be all right." The, to lift James's spirits, he said, "It was snowing earlier this morning, do you want to go out and have a snowball fight?"
"Sure," James said. But his stomach roiled at the thought of his Lily being tied down in the Ramortia dungeons. He wished more than anything that she was back with him, how things used to be. Everything happy-go-lucky. Lily would show up, he told himself. She couldn't be in much danger, could she? No, she couldn't have been or else he'd know.
"C'mon, let's go back to the common room and see if anyone has seen our Head Girl," James nodded and followed Sirius out of the Great Hall, hoping Lily was okay.
* * *
Lily was okay. In fact, she was great.
Well, other than the ugly mark on her neck that Mina left.
But Mina had wined and dined her until the corset wouldn't allow her to breathe, let alone eat or drink anything more. And she was beginning to feel a bit tipsy anyway.
"So, why did you come here?" Mina asked.
"I thought you had the Sight," Lily said. Mina nodded.
"It makes people uncomfortable to know that I know more than them, so I make conversation about it, so that way I can formally know what's going on it that person's life."
Lily thought she sounded a tad bit like Trelawney, but she answered anyway. "My father's here."
Mina smiled brightly.
"Then my Vampire call worked." Lily was confused. "You see, I created a diversion in the wizarding world where you were concerned. Meaning there was no freak accident at your father's place of work. He's safe at home with his family – save for you."
"Then how did James get his keys?"
"I stole them. So your father is fine, but missing his keys. I knew that once I captured James and planted the keys where he would find them, it would only be a matter of time before you saw them and would come looking for your father."
"So he's not here? What about the letters that I sent to and received from my mother?"
"Intercepted and forged. Brilliant, isn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess." Lily really did think so.
"And now that you're here, you're to be my heir now."
"And what am I supposed to do as your heir?"
Mina shifted in her seat and moved her taffeta skirts around her legs – very shapely legs, Lily noted when she caught sight of them.
"You see, there comes a time in every Vampire's life when they feel they need to pass their secrets on to someone worthy. Josephine is a little tart and would not be able to handle eternity. So I've picked you, my dear."
"You want me to be a Vampire?" Each time Lily thought about it, she was taken aback. Well, it couldn't be that bad, could it? she wondered. Mina was a stunningly beautiful creature – very much unlike the hideous vampires on television programs. It would be rather fun, being a Vampire, she thought.
"You're perfectly fit for being a Dark Diva, as we of the Femmes de Vampire say. You will join me, won't you?
Lily wanted to say no, she really did. But there was the small fact that Mina had already taken her blood and they were therefore bound. Stupid Vampire magic, Lily thought. Mina smiled patiently, waiting for Lily to answer, though knowing what the answer would be all along.
A Dark Diva, Lily thought. Certainly a catchy enough name, even if I don't have a choice. She opened her mouth to speak, to answer with the single word that she was compelled magically to say.
"Yes."
* * *
"No Head Girl in here," Peter said, poking his head in the Transfiguration classroom.
"She might be in the girls' toilet," James said. "Sirius, go check that out for me."
Sirius's eyes widened in horror. "No way."
"Sirius, I know you've been in there before, just go in there and see if Lily's there," James whined.
"You're the one looking for her, you go in there and check it out!" Sirius replied, flustered.
"Fine, be a big baby about going into a girls' toilet – what's the big deal?" James pulled open the door that read "Witches" on it and poked his head in. "Lily?" he called. The only reply was the silvery figure of a homely female coming out of a stall and floating over to James.
"Uh, hello," James said to the girl, trying very hard not the see through her. "I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that this loo was occupied."
"Oh, it's quite all right," the girl said. Her voice was high and squeaky. "I don't get visitors in here much."
"It's a shame," Sirius said, who now had his head above James's and was staring at the ghost. "Lovely place, this is; going for the wet décor, I see." The girl frowned.
"If you're just going to make fun of me, I'm going to go back into my toilet to think about my death."
"You live in a toilet?" Remus asked, his head now peeking partway above Sirius's.
"Of course I do, that's where I died." Sirius tried very hard not to laugh at that. James had to elbow him in the ribs hard to keep him from doing so.
"Such a horrific death," Peter said, wondering what his father, as a plumber, would think of that.
"Oh, it was awful," the girl said proudly. "But anyway, why are you in the girls' toilet?"
"We were looking for my girlfriend Lily," James answered.
"Not Lilly Lucas?" the girl said. James shook his head. "Good. She used to make fun of me in my toilet years ago. Vicious girl."
"Lily Evans," Remus said.
"Hmm," the ghost girl said, and she played with the rim of her thick glasses as she thought. "Ah – yes! I do remember her! I gave her quite a fright when he decided to use my particular toilet a few years back. Other than that, she hasn't been back to visit me."
"Sorry," Sirius said. "She's Muggle-born, of course, so she's not used to ghosts."
"Ghosts!" shrieked the girl. "I hate that word. Hideous, nasty, demoting word!" She started crying, pearly tears running down her cheeks. "Well, I'm inviting you to leave – you've rudely hurt my feelings."
And with that, she zoomed back to her stall and jumped into her toilet with a splash.
The four boys pulled their heads out of the door and looked at one another in shock.
"Who was that?" Remus asked.
"I dunno," Peter said. "She was rather weird.
"She didn't have any information on Lily," James said. "She was of no use to us."
"Stupid masochist," Sirius grumbled. The other three boys looked at him in confusion. "Well, she did live in a toilet, how much more self-torture is there than that?"
"James, Lily's only been missing in action for a few hours. Stop freaking out," Remus said, placing hand on his friends shoulder.
"I know, I know," James sighed. "I suppose I should tell Dumbledore or something. It wouldn't be fair if she was naked and tied up in the dungeons."
"Ew," Peter said. Sirius just smiled, his very dirty mind thinking very dirty thoughts.
"Guys, we'll find her," Remus said encouragingly.
"Always the optimistic one, aren't we?" Sirius said, then muttered something darkly in a strange language.
"What was that?" James asked. Sirius smiled and shook his head.
"Brazilian Gaelic," he replied.
"Is there such a language?" Peter asked.
"No. I made it up. Sometimes I mix Portuguese and Irish – it gets very confusing."
"I'll say. You can't even speak English properly – and it's your first language! You should hear yourself at night, when you talk in your sleep. Babbling all those languages, and I only catch one-third of what you're saying." Remus said. "And I had always thought having a French brother was bad!"
Sirius punched his arm playfully. "Let's go grab some lunch, mates, I'm starving."
"Me too," Peter said. "And it's kidney pie day. Can't miss that, now can we?"
"No, we can't," Sirius said, wrinkling his nose. He hated kidney pie with a passion.
They sat down at the Gryffindor table and piled food onto their plates and started shoveling food into their mouths until the doors to the Great Hall were thrown open with a great force, causing them to smack against the walls.
The four boys looked up along with everyone else in the Great Hall to see what was going on. Standing in the doorway in a flowing velvet dress and looking like a goddess was Lily Evans. She smiled widely at her onlookers, letting the light glint on her white, very Vampire-looking teeth.
* * *
A/N: Yes, it's finally here! And no – stop panicking – it's not what you think it is.
I am very thankful to all my reviewers, as always. So thankful , that I'm going to do what I usually do and post how thankful I am! *grins*
**Thank-Yous**
Pita (Kenny Chesire) – Thanks for putting me on your fave's list!
Zetta
Uknowwhoslittleprincess – Great joke as always!!!
Amelia – Great guess at where I live!
Clearbrook
Lily
Gnome Girl aka Marzoog – My opinion? Well, Gnome girl isn't as original as Marzoog, but it works!
The Lady Lillian – Do I know what's going to happen in each chapter? Hmm…Well, let me put it this way, I want to know what happens just as much as you do!
Tezka
TricksterJainaFel
Canadiangal – New Jersey is a far off guess, but good job!
JamesandLilyForever
MomeYome – Not California. I didn't think it could snow there… (?)
Sugarquill – Yes, it is a Romeo and Juliet thing, but this is fluff and it's not going to turn out tragic. It just wouldn't be fluff that way. :o)
Mandy Croyance – Thanks for the wonderful comments! I really appreciate them.
PrincessOfDarkness – Thanks for putting me on your favorites list!
Pilikika – All right, I finally have to ask – where did your cool penname come from?
Kristine – Yay! You did it!!! I do live in Colorado.
UnforgivenChild
* * *
THANK YOU!!!!!
* * *
All righty then, since I had a contest question going on last chapter, which hardly any of you took place in, I'm giving out the answer to the question. The question was: My home state just got dumped with five feet of snow and I'm stuck in the house – literally. Where do I live?
The answer is: Colorado!
Congrats goes out to Kristine for guessing correctly! You are awarded with 100 square feet of snow. But lucky for you, there's no snow anymore. So, I'm awarding you with lots of sunshine and a happy breeze. Isn't it a wonderful prize? *pats Kristine on the back*
As for the rest of you – all reviewers shall receive a kite in the color of your choice in honor of the coming spring! Just don't fly the kite with your keys on the end while it's storming, you may get electrocuted. Then again…Ben Franklin was a genius…
No, just don't do it.
:o)
Lots of luvs from Lavender