AN: Welcome back! I'll try and stick to weekly updates, though not a set day. So the next chapter might come on either a Sunday on the earliest and Saturday on the latest; but there will be updates!
'I wonder how Norbert is doing?'
Normally, Harry's thoughts wouldn't be on the small dragon that caused him grief in his first year, but for some reason this year became the year that he reminisced what had happened in his life for it to become what it was today.
Such morose thoughts only increased when he once again returned to his dorm, a small rag on the top of his left hand. Some people looked at him with pity, though a few of them sneered and glared at him.
He got used to it though, a worrying thing to get used to but he didn't have a choice in the matter. It was either swim or sink.
And he will never give them the satisfaction of seeing him sink - not in public at least.
As he entered the Gryffindor Dorm he saw Hermione and Ron waiting for him near the common room fireplace. They gave him a look and he shook his head, solemnly they returned to their homework; Hermione muttering about a correction in Ron's essay. Like Harry could think of anything but the searing pain on his left hand.
He climbed up the stairs, and as he opened the poster curtain to reveal his bed, there lay a single piece of ripped parchment. He took it in his hand and it read:
"Meet me in the same room tomorrow, 7:00 p.m.. Bring your cloak."
The pain ebbed away for a split second. A soft smile on Harry's face.
Harry arrived at the unused classroom at 6:50 p.m.. He watched as Lilith's footsteps on the map went back and forth in a line, obviously waiting for him to enter. He viewed his surroundings before he swiped the cloak off of him and entered the room.
His arrival did not go unnoticed and Lilith did not waste any time, "You're early."
Harry raised an eyebrow, "Is that a problem?"
Lilith softly shook her head, "No no, I guess… I don't know." She paced back and forth nervously.
He tilted his head in befuddlement, why was she so nervous?
As though he had asked it out loud, Lilith began to explain, "Sorry, it just dawned on me that this is actually happening." Harry's confusion only deepened at that statement, and Lilith took notice, "I work alone, I never had a partner with me in any of my jobs. So I'm a bit out of my element."
Harry nodded in understanding; how many times had he thought the same to Ron and Hermione? And thanks to this, he knew what to say to calm her down, "Don't worry, I can handle myself just fine. I wouldn't have insisted on joining if I couldn't defend myself." And as he correctly guessed, she visibly relaxed and nodded, "Yeah, I mean, you are leading a whole army - and I'm a part of that army! - So I know what you're capable of." Her mouth formed a grin, and he found that her smile was having more of an effect on him than he would like to admit.
"Well, we shouldn't let the wax melt unnecessarily." She held her hand palm up to him, "Now if I may, I'd like to test the capabilities of your invisibility cloak."
He gave it to her waiting hand, and he sat down on one of the desks as she swung the cloak around her body. She strolls towards the front of the classroom and with an Engorgio, a full-body mirror appeared in front of her.
She twisted in place and looked at herself in different directions, and as Harry looked at her he couldn't help a smile forming on his face when she did a full 360 turn. Lilith, seemingly satisfied with whatever she was testing, returned the cloak with a smile, "No spots or open slits on the cloak, and if it can fool my contact lenses then it really is one of a kind."
Harry gratefully took the cloak back and leaned back on the desk, hands in his pockets (A habit he started thanks to her.) He inquired, "So, what's this grandiose scheme you've concocted?"
Surprisingly, she shook her head, "Nope, none of that yet." Lilith then walked behind the teachers desk in front of the blackboard and brought out two thermoflasks and a box full of snacks. 'Well, that's the last thing I expected' Harry thought as examined the cargo full of biscuits and cookies.
"First things first: Reconnaissance. We'll be scoping out her office; with your cloak we'll be able to discern how many students get treated by her evil deeds and also get a couple of faces to corroborate with us when news of this gets out." She opens one of the thermostats and takes a careful sip of the liquid inside. "Ahh, nothing beats a good ol' cup of coffee."
Harry's curiosity peaked - he was never allowed coffee at the Dursleys - taking a small sip, his face scrunches up as the bitter taste envelops his tongue. Lilith snickers a bit and points at the lid of the thermoflasks, "Twist it right for tea and left for hot chocolate." He twists the lid right and the familiar taste of british tea removes any residue the coffee may have left.
Lilith donned a proud smile, "It was my fathers idea to get these things. Bloody useful in long stakeouts when your perp's taking his time in a location. Of course he just filled the three containers with more coffee but I figured I'd give you options, just in case you weren't a fan of the bitter stuff." Harry nodded in gratitude and to show he was listening, and she continued, "Anyway, we'll take these boxes out near Umbridge's office and lay low. Probably have to stick close together so that the cloak can fit both of us." She hummed.
Harry blushed a bit at that, and she didn't even seem to care much about it as she put her elbow on the desk and rested her head on her hands. "Actually on second thought, we'll probably bring a couple of snacks, the box is too big and it'll give us away if we open one too loudly."
"Well what if we didn't need to be so close to her office?" Harry asked.
Lilith shot him a confused look, "What do you mean?"
Harry weighed in his head whether to show her the map or not. On one hand it'll save him the embarrassment of having to be in such close quarters with the girl in front of him, on the other hand… it will give him the chance to get in close quarters with the girl in front of him.
He coughed and pulled the map out of his back pocket, taking her gaze off of his - hopefully unnoticeable - red face. He carefully murmurs I solemnly swear I am up to no good and the center of the map explodes with ink depicting the walls and passages of the castle. Lilith silently watched in awe of the piece of magic brought upon her.
"This is a map of Hogwarts." Harry said, "But not any regular map, this here shows every single person in the castle; their steps; their names; even the specific location of where they're at." He opens the lip of the parchment to reveal the classroom they were stationed at and pointed at their names. "As you can see for yourself."
Lilith's eyes bugged out as he revealed their location on the map and she couldn't believe that the small little footsteps were hers. So to test it, she carefully shuffled her feet to the left and the little dot's footsteps shadowed her movement perfectly.
It didn't take long until she had held the map in front of her as she started marching to and fro in the room. Harry let his eyes follow the eccentric girl and a twinkle of amusement followed as Lilith began climbing the several desks in the room, then suddenly went down into the floor and crawled around, her eyes never leaving the map. After several minutes of this, she
suddenly sprinted around the room and finally stopped in front of him, out of breath but with a giant smile on her face.
"This… this is brilliant! How did you ever come across this!? Wait, did you make it?!" She questioned Harry, who only chuckled a bit and took the map from her to show the names written on the map when folded.
"Say hello to Messrs Prongs, Padfoot, Moony, and… Wormtail." Harry fought to keep the disdain off of his voice when mentioning the traitorous rat, thankfully Lilith was too preoccupied looking at the names of the Marauders.
"These were a couple of students who, in their cause to create as much chaos as possible, manufactured a map. It contains everybody; including the ghosts." He smiled as the amazement on her face never disappeared, "And most importantly." He moved the parchment to reveal a dotted speck on one of the offices in Hogwarts, the name Dolores Umbridge and Fay Dunbar appearing unmoving, "It seems the toad's started her detention." He spat venomously, if he remembered correctly, Fay was one his housemates, same year in fact.
Lilith's eyes lit up in fury, she then promptly took out a piece of parchment, an inkwell, and some quills and started writing down Fay's name. Afterwards, she settled down next to Harry to inspect the map closer. Causing Harry' nose to be attacked by the girl's scent, 'Was that… cherry he was smelling'? he thought to himself.
Unbeknownst to him Lilith started casting several spells at the map, muttering to herself, "This is ingenious, I must say. So you said students made this correct? Would it happen to be the infamous Weasley Twins?" Harry answered her inquiring gaze with a shake of his head and answered, "No, it wasn't. In fact, you can say it was the heroes of the Weasley Twins who created this. It was constructed by my father and a couple of his friends; it was in the hands of Fred and George before I even knew it existed. Professor Lupin was one of the creators actually." He found himself saying more than he ought to be but he trusted Lilith. For some reason he really did.
And Lilith's gobsmacked expression only led him to being more endeared to her.
"Professor Lupin, really?" She said in awe, then the lights in her eyes seemed to explode in a supernova as her brain finally realized the importance of this map, "And with this, we can keep surveillance of Umbridge without ever having to risk getting caught! Hell, we can probably use the DA Room as an evidence room so that nobody can accidently see us coming and going in these unused classrooms." And before Harry could prepare himself, he found himself engulfed with a hug from Lilith.
She released him from the hug, grinning widely, "Oh boy, things are really starting to ramp up now. Say what about we start opening some of these snacks? We've got a long night ahead of us so we might need to-" Lilith paused when she saw Harry with his head turned away.
"Hey, you alright?" She said worriedly, but her worries were unfounded as he finally turned his head towards her and coughed into his fist. "Uh, yeah… Just… hungry I suppose." He finished lamely. He hoped his face wasn't red enough for her to notice.
Lilith quirked her eyebrows at him but shrugged, "Then you best start snacking mister. You're no good to me starving." She fished out a cookie from the basket and handed it to him.
He took it tentatively and sat next down to her, with the map right in front of them.
It was ten minutes before the curfew before they decided to stop for the night.
"Hnng, that was certainly informative. She doesn't really practice any sort of restriction when it comes to torturing students huh?" She said, stretching her body backwards, her chair leaning on it's two hind legs. Meanwhile Harry tried his best to keep his eyes at the map but he found himself taking quick glances at Lilith's lithe body.
'Damn hormones' he grumbled mentally.
"Well, I guess we should call it a night. Don't want to give Umbridge any hints as to what we're doing. Her guard dogs are probably already doing their rounds." She said resolutely, puting the long list of names that contained Umbridge's victims in her briefcase.
He nodded, getting up himself and a satisfying crack of his bones told him how long they had sat together for. He looked at the map and saw that she was correct; Malfoy and his lackeys were making the rounds…
And were coming up to the room they were in!
Eyes widening in panic, he quickly got his invisibility cloak and shrouded them in it, seconds before the door to the classroom opened wide.
Harry looked down at the map and saw that it was Goyle who had opened the door, with Malfoy and Crabbe standing near him.
"Well do you see anything?" He heard Malfoy ask impatiently.
A bit of shuffling before Goyle spoke up, "No boss, but I swear I smelt something in here."
A scoff of disbelief came out of Malfoy's mouth, "It's probably your stomach playing with your brain, you buffoon. Now come on! I'd rather we hurry this up."
They're footsteps echo down the corridor before finally disappearing altogether.
Harry sighed, 'That was close, too close.' He thought. Just before his emerald eyes met with a pair of brown ones.
A beat...
Frantically, he crawled backwards to make some space for between him and Lilith.
"Err, sorry about that. Had to think quickly, less' they found us." Harry mumbled quietly.
Lilith blinked and her mouth transformed into a smile, "No worries! That guy probably smelt my coffee. Probably should add a charm to remove the smell or not bring it all together." She stated, ruefully looking at the offending item.
Harry paused and felt his face burn up even more for making such a fuss, "No, no. I mean, it is a pretty cool thing your dad created. It really did help us get through the night." He said as fast as he could, he hated to think that she thought it was her fault for them almost being found out.
Lilith snorted a laugh, "Well, it is no map, but I'm glad you think that way."
Harry relaxed, happy that she wasn't beating herself up about it, "Well a wise wizard once said to me: "There's nothing better than bed rest and a large, steaming cup of hot chocolate to cheer someone up.""
Lilith nodded, "Hm, sounds like a wise wizard alright." She put the box of snacks and the thermostats and put them into her briefcase, before shrinking the briefcase and putting it into her inside pocket, "Well, I best be off. Never know when they might come back around." She said, walking her way to the classroom door.
"Oh, why don't I go with you? It'll be safer if you use the cloak." Harry said, as if he wasn't mortified a second ago due to their close contact.
Lilith shook her head, not looking back at him and humming negatively, "It's fine but thanks for the offer. I can sneak my way back." And without waiting for a response, she was gone.
Harry felt a bit sad, had he screwed things up? But at the back of his mind, he swore that her ears were bright red… as if she was…
Harry shook his head, 'Nah, couldn't be." He thought.
But it was a smiling Harry Potter that left the classroom that night, sneaking his way back to his dorm.