Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize

A/N: Thanks a lot to all of those who reviewed and to Ally Serenity for betaing this chapter

Chapter Twenty-Six

Lily carefully walked along the secret passageway, restraining herself from sneezing, as it was very dusty. She made her way through the spider webs and the fallen rocks. Finally, after climbing a creaking ladder, she ended up in the King's Bedroom. She crossed the room and leaned on the door. Hearing nothing, she opened it cautiously. The corridor was completely empty. She closed it silently, thinking quickly about a way to find where the wands had been put. The problem was that there were a lot of rooms in the castle, and she could not go look in each of them, there was no time! Then, a thought struck her: the wands were made of wood! Therefore she would be able to sense them with her elf-senses! She immediately sat on the bed, trying to push her worries away despite the situation and the fact that someone might enter the room any time. But she somehow managed to reach a relaxed state, allowing her to search thorough the castle in her spirit form. She couldn't see any details, only bright spots of light when it was a natural material like stone or wood… The colors changed, depending on what it stood for: gray for stone, light brown for wood, red for leather, green for paper… For a few minutes she looked for a gathering of brown spots. She finally found it. The only problem was that she realized it was in a small room near the throne room. The only way to enter that room was to cross the throne room, which was still occupied by Voldemort. So all she had to do was cross the room, take the wands, cross back and bring them to their owners, all of this without being seen of course. She came out of her trance and stretched her sore muscles before approaching the door. After verifying that no one was coming, she quickly cast an Invisibility charm on herself and headed for the throne room. On her way, she heard people coming. She immediately recognized them as the Duke of Nearth and Elianor.

"Are you sure it was wise?" Elianor was asking, apparently a bit worried.

"Of course it was! But just to be sure, I will propose to the King that I will let him out against a promise of amnesty in case Voldemort is defeated."

"Do you think he will accept?"

"Yes; he hasn't got the choice."

They continued to walk in silence. Quickly making up her mind, Lily followed them. They walked for a few minutes before stopping before a door guarded by two Death Eaters.

"What are you doing here?" asked one of the guards.

"We have to try to reason with the King, order of the Master," replied the Duke in a superior tone.

These were the magic words. Not daring to go against their master's orders, not caring if they were true or false, the two guards let the Duke and his daughter enter. Lily smiled; she had a plan in mind. She took two soporific darts, which would knock their target out for twelve hours, and in a fluid movement she threw them at the guards, hitting them right in the neck. Five seconds later, they fell on the ground with thud. She tied and gagged them before taking their wands and snapping them. Then she approached the door and opened it a little.

"I WILL NOT! YOU HEAR ME JONATHAN! I WILL NOT!" was shouting King Regis.

"Don't be stupid Regis! You do not have a choice! You are not really on the winning side…"

"I will not abdicate, and I will not promise you forgiveness for your betrayal!" said the King, determinate.

"Then, you are stupider than I thought… you WILL regret this decision,"

"I do not think so…. "Lily cut in. Almost lazily, she threw two darts, and before being able to alert someone, the Duke and Elianor were asleep.

"Good riddance." said Lily.

The royal family starred at her.

"LILY!" exclaimed James, hugging her tightly.

"James! I need to breath!" she said after a few moments.

He released her reluctantly.

She looked at the King and the Queen.

"Your Majesties," she said, bowing.

"Lilyaris, I do not think it is the right time for formalities." Answered the King, smiling a bit. "Are they dead?" he asked, pointing towards the Duke and Elianor.

"No, just asleep. We haven't much time, we need to get out of here…"

"Alright, but how? They will quickly see we are missing." asked James.

"I will disguise those two like the Queen and the King and one of the guards like you. It will give us some time before they notice you have disappeared… Now I will show you how to go to my cell; remain here until I come back with the wands."

"Are you joking?" cut James, "You cannot do this alone!"

"James, I am the only one able to do wandless magic, therefore the only one able to defend myself. If you want to help me, go back to my cell, and convince the nobles in there to obey to me. Once I come back, we will not have much time to waste in discussions."

James didn't look convince by this, but reluctantly nodded.

"Thank you," said Lily relieved. She pushed a stone on her bracelet, allowing Bella to hear her. "Now here is the plan: once I come back with the wands, I will charm them to appear in their owner's hands. Immediately, they will have to transfigure their clothes into ones allowing movement. "Even the ladies." she added. "They should take off all their jewelry, it could be dangerous for them. Put all of them in a purse you will keep with you."

"Alright; but how are we going to go out?"

Lily was hesitating.

"Well, I know it will not please a lot of people, but it is the only safe way. We are going to use the sewers."

"The sewers?" repeated the Queen, disbelieving. "That is disgusting!"

"That is why we have to use them! They will not think nobles would have the guts to use them! They will lead us outside, about two kilometers away from the castle. There, the two wings will be waiting for us and take us to the North Forest. Once there, we will be quite safe." Explained the young woman. "Have you any objections to this plan?"

"I have quite a few," replied the King, "But I will not list them, as I do not have any better ideas. Though I am afraid the nobles will not cooperate."

"You shall have to convince them, your Majesty. I know that the elves, the commoners and the fairies present, will do it."

"Very well, we will try."

"Thank you, your Majesties. Now, I will transform them, then we will leave."

With a flick of her hand, The Duke, his daughter and the smallest guard were transformed. She then positioned them in the room. Someone looking in the room would think they were sleeping, which was true.

"Follow me," whispered Lily, placing them under an invisibility spell.

She lead them to the King bedroom, took off the charm, opened the passage and explained them how to enter the cell. Once they left, she headed for the throne room. She met a few Death Eaters on the way, but they were all walking in groups of two. Finally she saw her prey: a Death Eater wandering alone: to sum it up, a complete fool. Two seconds later he was sleeping, tied and gagged, in a cupboard.

Lily quickly took his appearance, and as an afterthought, cast a voice modifying charm on her, and then entered the throne room. She tried to fade in the shadows as she crossed the room. Being busy talking with his strategists, Voldemort didn't even acknowledge her. She opened the door as quietly as possible, praying that Voldemort wouldn't look her way. She was lucky. Once she had entered and closed the door, she looked the wands and shrunk them and put them in a third purse she got by transfiguring a chair. She put an illusion to mask the disappearance of the wands and exited the room as quietly as she entered it… She was in the middle of the room when she heard something that made her freeze.

"Alright… So what is this prophecy about?" was asking Voldemort to a trembling Death Eater.

"W-Well, my Lord, it says that the Pure will be helped in his or her choice by the Crystal of Destiny. It also says that this crystal enhance the powers of its holder."

"Where it is?"

"I-I do not know my Lord."

"Find it. You mustn't fail me or else…"

"Y-yes my Lord." Replied the stuttering man.

A crystal enhancing its holder's powers? The thought was enough to petrify her, but fortunately she came quickly back to her senses and resumed her walk.

"You!" Voldemort's shout echoed in the room. "I ordered you to guard the King and his family! Why have you disobeyed me?"

Lily's mind was racing, trying to find an answer.

"I-I forgot to bring a wand," she said thanking whoever had inspired her to cast a voice modifying charm on her.

"You know I do not like mistakes or disobedience. Crucio!"

Lily fell on the floor faking more pain than she was really feeling. This seemed to satisfy Voldemort as he lifted the curse.

"Go!"

Lily was happy to oblige him as she exited quickly the room, a bit dizzy from the curse. She reached the King's bedroom, and entered and locked the door behind her. Then she decided to call Amaris. She sought through her mind for the link with her dragon, which had become a real part of her.

Amaris! Maris? Do you hear me? Maris?

For a few seconds, she thought she had failed, but suddenly she heard a dull voice in her head, faint but audible.

Lily?

Amaris! Thanks god you hear me!

Are you all right! The wing is dead worried!

I am fine for now. Can you allow the other dragons to hear us and ask them to transmit this to their masters? This way you will not have to repeat everything.

Wait a few seconds… All right, you can talk.

Lily started to explain the situation and her plan.

… We are counting on you. Be there in an hour and come discreetly She said, ending her explanation.

Lil?

Yes Maris?

It is just you and I now. Be careful, Lil, be really careful.

I will be Maris, don't worry, I am always careful.

I am not joking Lil. I want to have my rider back safe and sane.

All right! I, Lilyaris Evans, swear to Amaris, to be careful and come back safe. I cannot promise anything about the sane part...

All right. See you in one hour

We will be there in time, even if I must tie those nobles and drag them in the pipes myself…

Knowing you, you would dare to do this…

Exactly, I must go… Bye Maris…

Bye Lil.

Lily became serious again. She opened the passage leading to her cell and stepped in it. As the wall was slowly closing itself she heard voices outside the doors

"Have you checked their bedroom?"

"No, but I am on my way…"

"I will come with you, I have always wanted to see the Royal bedroom…"

Footsteps came closer. Lily was looking at the wall, which was still halfway opened. She fixed it desperately, urging it with her mind to go faster, even if it was useless. She heard them stop before the door. In a slow motion, she saw the doorknob moving and the door slowly opening. There was still a gap in the wall as the passage was continuing to close itself.

"Hey!" exclaimed suddenly one of the Death Eaters. "Have you checked on the royal family?"

"Yeah, they are sleeping like babies… Fortunately since the two guards assigned to them left their posts. I warned the Lord. He was not happy about this. I do not want to be in their shoes when he finds them." answered his companion.

"Me neither… Well, we enter?"

"Yes, come on."

They entered and found nothing. The room was deserted.

"Well it is quite a room. Look at the walls! Those paintings! There must be for thousands galleons in this room!"

"Yes! And look at the bed!"

"They must…" The two Death Eaters started to exchange dirty jokes about the royal couple, totally unaware that behind a wall, Lily was listening to their every word.

She was trying to slow down her heart, which was beating like crazy. It had really been a close call. The wall had closed seconds before they entered. At least she had learned one thing: her illusions had worked.

Once she had calmed down, she walked down the passage as fast as she could, not wanting to waste valuable time.

She arrived quickly at the cell where a loud argument was taking place.

"We will not! There must be another way out!"

"You will…. This is your only chance!"

"How can you trust her like this!"

"She saved us, that is enough for me to trust her!"

"But… She is not a noble!" the people uttered it like it was the final argument.

"She is more honorable than some people I know, like Jonathan and his daughter…."

That seemed to silence the other person.

"Moreover, if you are not coming willingly, I will make you. I will not leave anyone here." Added Lily, stepping in the room. She quickly scanned the room, noticing that all the nobles had taken their jewels off.

"Alright. I have your wands." She said calmly. With a wave of her hand, that wands shot out from the purse and came back to their normal size disappeared to reappeared in their owner's hands. Half of the wands reappeared on the floor. Lily took them back in her purse and headed for the King.

"Did you tell them?"

"Yes, most of them agreed to follow your plan, quite reluctantly I must say, and I understand them. But this group," He showed her a small frowning group on their left. "Refuse categorically."

"Well, I hope you have good arguments for them. I am going to bring those," she pointed to her purse, "to Bella. I will be back in about five minutes."

"How! You have to cross the whole castle! And you cannot apparate in within its walls!"

"James, James, James… Do not tell me that you do not know the ancient secret passages of the castle…" She said. Seeing his face she quickly continued.

"Apparently not. Well, through my reading, I found an old plan of the castle made by the architect. It shows that all the cells are connected to each other. It was built this way to allow a person to 'disappear' easily when the King or anyone else did not want to hear from her again…"

She walked in the cell, looking closely at the floor. Finally, she seemed to find what she was looking for.

"Yes! I knew that learning this plan would come in handy sometime!"

She dusted the floor, revealing a small crack between two stones. She put her wand in it and muttered a few words. A hole appeared.

"Perfect," she muttered. She quickly slid in the hole, under the puzzled stares of the nobles. Ten minutes later, she was back, followed by Bella's group.

"Now, we must be quick; they can discover our escape anytime. You told them the plan Bella?"

"Yes, no problem."

"Excuse me, but I am not walking through the sewer web… That is disgusting." Spat a man.

Lily looked at the speaker and smiled.

"Alright, you are right… It might be too much for you…" Receiving odd stares from James, Remus, Sirius, Bella, Yvan, Albus, Exer, the King and the Queen. The man flushed under these words.

"Young lady, I can still teach you some tricks. I can do this blinded!"

"Happy to know this, then I am sure you will not mind leading the way with me?" replied Lily, still smiling. "This way please." She pointed to the passage she had just used. Trapped, the noble couldn't back down. He had no other choice than to obey, so he stepped in the hole, followed by Lily. Bella was closing the line.

The young red-haired woman led them through the passage for ten minutes, and then she stopped.

"It is here," she said pointing to a point at the wall. "Have you all changed your clothes?"

A chorus of 'yes' answered her.

"Good; behind this wall there is huge pipe. We will slide into it and end in a 'cleaning water room'. There, we will have to swim to reach its edge. Do not worry about getting dirty or wet, I will put a repelling charm on you. Once there, we will wait for everyone. Is there anyone who cannot swim?"

A few people raised their hands.

"Alright" sighed Lily. "I will cast floating charms on you for your security; you will be perfectly safe."

She waved her hands and muttered a few words under her breath.

"Now let's go!" She pushed a brick on the wall, revealing a doorknob, which she pulled. A big hole appeared, and a disturbing smell spread through the passage. Saying that it was not a pleasant smell was an understatement.

"I will go first," said Lily, "Bella, take care of those who need some help…." The raven-haired girl nodded with a small smirk, understanding exactly what Lily meant. She watched as her friend jumped in the pipe.

James watched too. He was amazed by Lily's courage and cleverness. The King was also amazed, but it was because of something else. He had noticed the authority Lily had when she explained her plan and how she manipulated the nobles into obeying her.

The object of their thinking was currently sliding a pipe filled with things whose nature she preferred to ignore (the smell was enough, she did not need to see it), praying that everything would go as she had planned. After a minute, she heard a noise that was getting louder and louder by the second.

Then the pipe ended.

And she fell.

SPLASH!