Chapter 21: The Colour of Blinkers
Sirius skidded to a halt when Remus and his captors suddenly disappeared. Aiming at the only targets left, he yelled "Expecto Patronum!" as James and Alice retrieved their wands and did the same thing.
The Dementors could not escape fast enough from three Patronuses.
"Merlin's beard," Sirius gasped. "What on .."
He was interrupted by Petunia's shrill scream "That boy is a werewolf?"; Mr. Evans strident voice demanding an explanation from Lily; Lily, Alice and Peter trying to explain at the same time.
James was the only one who looked at him. "What do you think happened, Padfoot?" he said.
Mr Evans held up his hand. "Quiet!" he roared. The confused babble ceased into a dying murmur.
"Everyone get back inside the house," he ordered. Sirius and James looked outraged, Lily noted, no one demanded anything of them, but she prayed they would have enough sense not to resent it. "Lily, come with me."
"We should … the Ministry could help.." Revera ventured rather confusedly as the group trooped inside, unnaturally silent.
"I'll deal with that, Sunny," Sirius said grimly. "We'll find him." With a 'pop', he swiftly Disapparated.
Lily followed in the wake of her father's quick, sure steps, down the hallway to his study, feeling somewhat like she did when she accidentally burnt Petunia's dolls at the age of six. It was not my fault, she had thought mutinously then, she had been angry but the fire had burst out of nowhere. This was not her fault either, she knew, but responsibility for anything magic, would always be hers in this household.
"Sit," her father said curtly, waving his hand at a comfortable leather chair. Lily sat rather gingerly.
"Well?" The look in Mr. Evans eyes was neither encouraging nor hostile. "What was that …scene..all about? An elaborate joke? Some hazing ritual?"
They don't know, Lily realized with a pang, no one in my family has a clue what wizard societies are like. What witches and wizards are like. It was, at that moment, that she knew any efforts she could make to reconcile her two worlds were bound to be futile.
Her father still looked at her expectantly, drumming his fingers impatiently on his desk at the prolonged silence.
"In the wizarding world, there are some people who delve into dark magic," she began, choosing her words carefully. "One of them, one of the most powerful, is someone who calls himself Lord Vol-..Voldemort. Some of his followers have been rather..enthusiastic, using terror as a weapon to threaten his opponents." Her father's expression did not change. "Those people with masks – they are his followers. It looks like, for some reason, they wanted Remus."
Her father seemed to mentally dismiss this exposition aside. "And that boy is a werewolf?" he asked, a hard look in his eyes.
"Yes, he is," Lily said. "But that is not important, we need to get him back before…"
"Allow me to get this clear, Lily," her father interrupted. "You are saying that you brought a .. monster we have always thought was imaginary into the house as a guest?"
"Remus is no such thing!" she said indignantly. "The Death Eaters – they are the monsters.."
"Who are, no doubt, here to claim one of their own," her father cut in angrily.
"That's not true!" she said. "You don't know anything about wi…my world. How can you make snap judgments and label who's evil and who's not? If you think he's evil then, you are just as badly blinkered as.."
She stopped because her father, in the space of seconds had suddenly seemed to grow old and tired. Mr. Evans rubbed his eyes wearily.
"I don't know anything, that's true. But I am trying to protect you, this family, from …" he broke off and sighed. "I don't even know what I am trying to protect you from."
Lily reached out for his hand. "I don't belong here anymore, Dad." The sadness in his eyes was an answering agreement he didn't voice.
"What are you going to do now?" he asked instead.
"James and Sirius will go after Remus," she said gently. "I have to help too."
"Go after a bunch of madmen waving wands to rescue a werewolf? Just a minute, young lady.."
"I have to," she insisted. "You taught me that..everything I learnt about loyalty and friendship…I learnt from you and I learnt from experience. And you know I cannot stay here much longer."
Her father reached out to massage the back of his neck. "That does not mean I would happily let you chase murderers and werewolves."
"We don't really have a choice," she reiterated. "You can't exactly chase me down Diagon Alley either," she tried to smile.
Her father squeezed her hand but looked away. "We would always be here for you. I am..very proud of you."
"I know," she said, blinking back tears.
There was a knock on the door. James poked his head in. "The Aurors are here, Mr. Evans and a few Ministry officials."
"Right," Mr. Evans got up. "What are Aurors again?"
'A few Ministry officials' was quite an understatement – the house was swarming with officials from the Ministry of Magic's Law Enforcement Department. Every 10 minutes, Sirius growled impatiently that they should be off looking for Remus not pandering to the questions of ignorant investigators. James agreed completely, adding a few choice epithets of his own.
"The man in the purple bowler hat cannot even dress, let alone find anyone," said Sirius, scanning the room. The selfsame man came up to the duo, having finished questioning Peter and Alice.
"Cornelius Fudge, junior officer, Magical Law Enforcement," he introduced himself jauntily. "You would be James Potter and Sirius Black? I know your parents slightly. Fine wizarding families."
Sirius, who hated his noble family only slightly less than Voldemort, was not polite enough to suppress rolling his eyes.
"What is being done to track Remus?" asked James, exasperatedly, turning the conversation back proper channels. Fudge distractedly fidgeted with his tie.
"You are very worried about friend, understandable, natural, even," Fudge lowered his voice as if he was about to disclose a major secret. "but are you aware that he is a…werewolf?"
"We know that," Sirius snapped. "So what?"
"I think you are not quite aware of the implications," Fudge reproved, puffing his chest out. "Voldemort is gathering Dark creatures into his private army; that's common knowledge."
"All the more we should find Remus before he is placed under the Imperius or be coerced in some other way," James interrupted.
"As I was saying," Fudge loudly reasserted his opinion, "We must keep in mind the possibility that the werewolf chose this way of joining Voldemort voluntarily."
"That is ridiculous!" both Sirius and James exclaimed. "Remus would never.."
"Of course, you would want to think the best of your ..friend. However, bear in mind that this attack, if it can so be called, is not typical of Voldemort. His targets, so far, are half-bloods or those who oppose him. And usually no one is left alive. Here, you have, as far, as I can tell, young wizards who never acted against him and no one harmed – except the werewolf. Very suspicious circumstances."
"You are mad," James said coldly. "Being tied up and assaulted is not the way anyone would voluntarily offer support."
"Unless it's a huge double bluff to fool everyone," Fudge said as if placating a child throwing a tantrum. "You might be right," this said condescendingly, "but its best to keep our minds open to all possibilities, eh?"
He strode off, purple hat in hand.
"Jelly Legs or Furnunculus?" Sirius asked James, pointing his wand at Fudge's back.
"Don't, Sirius," said a soft voice behind him. Revera laid a restraining hand on his wand arm. "It wouldn't help." Her face was unattractively bleached of all colour.
Sirius spun around to face her. '"Didn't you hear what he said about your brother?"
"Of course I did," she said quietly. "I am not naïve- I know the Ministry won't help. If we are to find him, we have to do it on our own. And we cannot afford to get into trouble just for the satisfaction of annoying a petty official, no matter how much they are asking for it."
The words and the determination in them were so unlike Revera's typical girlishness that Sirius just stared at her. James grinned faintly, a new respect in his eyes. "She's right, Padfoot. We need to act fast. I'll round up everyone else."
A group of clucking Ministry witches blocked Lily's path as she tried to find James. She felt ready to take the head off the next person who bumped into her. Surely the Ministry didn't need quite so many people. Someone grabbed her elbow. She slapped his hand away.
"Lils, ow!" James said, putting on a wounded air. 'I didn't deserve that."
"Sorry," she pushed her hair out of her eyes. "I was looking for you."
"I got caught up by an awful wart in a purple hat," James said grimly. "Listen, is there any place quiet where we can talk?"
Lily shrugged. "Maybe my room; let's see."
After bundling out a curious witch fiddling with Lily's electric hairdryer, James firmly shut the door and leant on it.
"Listen, we need to go to my place. My parents can help us – they were ex-Aurors, they would not what to do. Do you think you can get all the girls ready in half an hour?"
"Sure.." she began. James looked slightly uncomfortable. "What is it?"
"I was thinking – maybe you can stay here," he mumbled.
"James Potter, you insensitive chauvinist, I'll do no such thing. How can you think –"
"Listen to me, " he began earnestly. "Chances are, if we go out on a limb to find Remus, Voldemort will be after us. You can't ever come back here…it would be too obvious a target. Voldemort doesn't like Muggles or Muggle-borns.."
"I know that!" she snapped. "I know I can't come back! I can't stay here either. Do you think he would leave any so-called Mudblood alone once he has the power? You can't protect me, my father can't protect me.. no one can. And if you think I would run and hide when you are in danger, our relationship is meaningless. We stay together, James, whatever happens."
James took an involuntary step back. "Alright. I just…"
"Save it. I …" A faint yelp filtered through the door. "What's that?" Lily opened the door cautiously. The only person outside was a satisfied looking Sirius. She followed his gaze upwards and shrieked. "Is that Petunia?"
Spreadeagled and stuck on the hallway ceiling, Petunia glared balefully but could not mouth a word. "Bring her down!" she ordered.
"By all means," Sirius grinned. Her sister landed in an ignominious heap. "I woudn't undo the Silencer charm if I were you. She seems to have too much to say." Lily ignored this suggestion.
"….FREAKs! Vulgar and useless monsters .."
"I told you.." he sighed. James glared at the girl in distaste.
"Listen, this is not quite the time to indulge in .." he began.
"James, please," Lily interrupted. "I need to talk to Petunia alone. Sirius, just go."
When Lily took that tone, no one argued with her. Even Petunia stopped shrieking.
"I am leaving, you know," Lily began. "I just want you to know how sorry I am that things turned out this way."
Petunia sniffed.
"I am very sorry," she repeated, willing her sister to say something, anything that would indicate that they were more than strangers sharing a roof.
Still, only another sniff.
She turned to go.
"Lily," Petunia called. Lily stopped but did not turn. "If you get yourself killed I'll never forgive you."
It was not much maybe, but it was something for her to hold on to.
p.s Sorry for the long break...thanks again to all reviewers