"Huh?" Nore asked, looking at him curiously.
"If I am not mistaken, Potter, Black, and Lupin are in the bushes to the left, listening," he replied.
Cleave and Nore jumped up and began walking towards their hiding spot. Lily jumped up and grabbed their arms, looking at Voldemort beseechingly, "They aren't doing any harm. They only came to check up on me. Please, just let them go home."
Voldemort looked at her pleading face and decided that it would be a diplomatic move to let them return, or at least that is what he was telling himself the reason was, "Alright. I know they can hear me, and I am telling them to come out right now, or your pleas will fall on deaf ears."
James, Sirius, and Remus instantly stood up and walked towards the fire, "Hey."
"Hear anything interesting?" Severus sneered.
"Why can't anybody get along?!" Lily screamed and her eyes changed from a calm blue, to the fire surrounded by black being fed by her passion.
"You might as well give up," Voldemort said calmly. "You'll drive yourself crazy before we say a kind word to each other."
"Your right," Lily said. "But I would settle for you not trying to kill each other."
Lucius looked down guiltily.
"Seeing as they happen to be enemies and we are on the brink of a wizarding war, I don't see that happening either," Voldemort said realistically.
Lily sighed, "Why does there have to be a war?"
"Because I am an ambitious man, and I will settle for nothing less than control of the world."
"Did you see what happened to every other man who tried to conquer the world?" Lily asked. "Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Napoleon."
"All had their names in history as great men, I will have that in the least. But they were trying to do it without immortality," he pointed out.
"Immortality?" Lily gasped. "Why would you want to live forever?"
"Can you honestly not understand the appeal?" he asked, astounded.
"Not everyone is power crazy," James mumbled.
Voldemort turned his eyes on him, "There are only a few, small reasons you are still breathing. Keep speaking and those will not be enough."
James looked down.
"So, you suggested that James tell a ghost story?" Lily said, breaking the uncomfortable silence that follows a threat.
"You honestly expect us to let them join our group?" Cleave said, surprised.
"She's been trying it all day," Severus said. "Making us hang out with them."
"You weren't complaining before," Lily paused. "Oh, yeah. You were."
"Why don't you disapparate already?" Voldemort said, annoyed.
"We can't disapparate until the end of seventh year," Sirius said.
"You mean you didn't learn yet," Voldemort said disgusted.
"No," Remus replied.
"Well, I shall have to make a ersatz portkey," Voldemort said.
"You'll be sure they get home alright, won't you?" Lily asked, concerned for her friends.
"Of course," he said, though he had been intending to trap them on a different plane.
Lily didn't look totally convinced of his sincerity, "Maybe I should go with them. Just to see that they get back okay."
"Alright," he said, shrugging. So much for trapping them between dimensions, he thought sadly.
"Perhaps I should go with Lily, to make sure she gets back alright," Karakoff volunteered.
"Maybe that would be a good idea. If the portkey doesn't work on the return, at least you can apparate," Voldemort said.
"Where are we going to?" Lily asked. "Maybe I can pick up some marshmallows there."
"We should probably just go to my house," James said. "Then you guys can stay or go home from there."
"I'll just stay, my parents will know I'm there anyway," Sirius said.
"Mine won't care," Remus said bitterly.
"I'm sure they care," Lily said kindly.
"Yeah, sure," Remus said, wearing a half-smile.
"So, are you ready yet?" Voldemort asked impatiently. "I don't know how much longer I can abide your company."
"We're ready, what are we using as a portkey?" Sirius asked.
Voldemort handed them a skull and they gulped. "Is that real?" James asked.
Voldemort nodded, "Of course. He opposed me, but now, at least, he will have been of some use."
Even Lily looked a little squeamish, "How old is that?"
Voldemort shrugged, "A week or so."
"How did he decompose so quickly?" Remus asked.
"A spell of course. I don't leave bodies lying around," Voldermort said. "Now, I tire of this. The portkey will activate in five seconds. Then, Lily, to return it will activate in sixty seconds."
They nodded, "Five.Four.Three.Two.One."
James, Sirius, Remus, Lily and Karakoff disappeared and found themselves on the street in front of James' house. No, house was not the right word, it was truly a mansion.
James, Sirius, and Remus all sighed in relief, as if they were afraid it would have taken them to Siberia or something.
"Well, guys, it was certainly an interesting day," Lily said sardonically.
"Yeah, sorry about that," James said.
"It's alright. Except for a few things, everything turned out fine," Lily said optimistically.
Karakoff broke in, "As much as I hate to break this up, we have twelve seconds."
"Oh, do you have marshmallows?" Lily asked, walking to the portkey.
"Accio marshmallows!" James said, and a bag flew out of the house, which he handed to Lily.
"Cool. Thanks ag -" Lily was pulled back into the camp.