Previously: It's the Quidditch final. Alice nags Lily until she agrees to come. James helps soothe his teammates' nerves. Gryffindor beats Ravenclaw.

Warning: This chapter contains some disturbing violence – and one rather bad swearword.


Chapter 30: An Unforgivable Night

"Lily, do you hear that?" whispered a voice through the dark.

"… mmphff …"

"Lily," hissed Alice again.

That word was enough to rouse Lily fully from her lovely sleep. She moaned and lifted her pillow above her head to try to block out the unwanted noise, but when Alice muttered her name a third time, Lily knew there was no use pretending not to hear. Yanking the curtains aside, Lily peeked her head out of them and gave Alice the evil eye for interrupting her sleep.

"What?" she demanded.

"Do you hear that?" repeated Alice once again, not looking the slightest bit remorseful of the time – which, by the way, happed to be two in the morning.

Realizing that she had not been woken for an emergency, Lily groaned and hung her head.

"You're imagining things, Alice. Go back to sleep," she muttered, moving to yank her curtains back; but before Lily could do that, a muffled yelp that she would never have noticed if she had been fast asleep reached her ears.

Alice gave Lily a meaningful look at that last noise.

"Now do you think I'm imagining things?" she asked.

Lily sighed heavily, much more alert than she had been when Alice had initially called her name – much to Lily's displeasure.

"It's probably just Crackerjack toppling over some books or else the Marauders up to their usual tricks. Either way it's nothing to be worried about, Alice."

With one final heavy sigh to make her feelings clear, Lily fell back onto her bed to resume the peaceful dream she had been having before Alice so rudely interrupted it.

That was not about to happen. When the third sound echoed, it was not long before Lily felt a gentle prod on her shoulder and a whisper of, "Lily, get up. C'mon, there's somebody in the common room."

When Lily said nothing, hoping her friend would just give up and go away, Alice tried a different approach: "Don't you want to see what's going on down there? You could catch the Marauders rule-breaking."

After several quiet seconds, Lily finally rolled over so she could look Alice squarely in the eye. The last offer was quite tempting, considering that Potter had been beyond unbearable ever since Gryffindor won the Quidditch Cup – but then again, her soft, fluffy bed was also very tempting.

"You're going down there with or without me, aren't you," stated Lily flatly.

With only a guilty expression for an answer, she sighed, finally relenting to Alice's whims.

"Fine. Where's my wand?"

"Thanks, Lils! I owe you!" squealed Alice, handing out a dressing gown without a second's hesitation.

"Yeah – big time," muttered Lily as she pushed back her blankets so she could swing her feet over the side of the bed.

Though it was almost June, the night was still chilly against Lily's skin as she pulled on her dressing gown and grabbed her wand before following Alice downstairs to identify the mysterious source of the noise that Lily could not help but think would have been much less irritating during the middle of the day when she was not in the Gryffindor common room to begin with – but either way, she was up now. Alice went first down the cold stone steps, and Lily followed, though only grudgingly.

The noise which had first wakened Alice and consequently Lily herself grew more definable as the two girls descended the stairs until Lily could clearly make out laughter, and with the noise grew her anger because she soon realized precisely who had had been audacious enough to push Alice into pulling her from the precious four-poster bed – and those two boys were dead meat once she was through with them, Quidditch champions or not.

"And just what exactly do you think you're doing, Potter?" demanded Lily, stepping out into view.

Potter and Black, both of whom had their wands pointed at one of the numerous Hogwarts paintings, jumped in unison. The portrait of the same monk Lily had once jinxed for not shutting up had been chosen to be the victim this time, and he had woken up by now. Lily quickly deduced that he was the main reason for the commotion since he had a crudely drawn mustache and hairy nose that was clearly the work of a thirteen-year-old boy with nothing better to do – or, more accurately, two thirteen-year-old boys with nothing better to do.

"Evans, what are you doing here?" demanded Potter while Black tried to pay attention but was still distracted by the mustache-ridden monk; he could not seem to stop laughing at the monk.

Potter meanwhile looked both surprised to see her out of bed and annoyed to be caught.

"Aren't you supposed to be sleeping – you know, since we have a curfew and all that not-fun stuff?"

"I could ask you the same thing," retorted Lily, crossing her arms and giving the two of them a heavy frown. "Someone has to shoulder the responsibility of making sure you two stay in line."

Beside her, Alice was also distracted by the sight of the silly monk, and she was trying (and failing) to hide her chuckles at the portrait's misfortune. The monk simply gave her a glare before he raced out into the other portraits one after the other until he was out of the Gryffindor common room completely – which was a smart move considering Lily also had her wand on her and was not feeling very patient.

"Who would've thought, Jamesie-Boy? Little Miss Goody-Two-Shoes is out of bed at this late hour," snorted Black derisively, though his harsh laughter died down after he noticed that Potter was no longer sharing the amusement.

Potter glared at Lily with annoyance clearly spelled out in his expression, and though it was impossible for those bright eyes to hold anything other than mischievousness, there was a new level of seriousness in his eyes that Lily was not as familiar with. Perhaps there had been a shadow of something else in the exceptionally rare times something pulled Potter and Black from their little world full of pranks and jokes, but she only ever saw brief glimpses.

"What is your problem, Evans?" demanded Potter, stepping closer. "Why don't you just let us be? C'mon, we just like to have a laugh every once in a while, but nooo – Merlin forbid you actually realize there's something called fun. Y'know, that thing that you're always trying to deprive people of?"

The few inches he had gained over the past year helped make him look serious, but thankfully Lily had not been stuck either, and she was still able to match his hard gaze from a reasonable height. Placing her arms on her hips, similar to – Merlin forbid – Petunia when she was frustrated with her school friends, Lily glowered right back.

"I know how to have fun, Potter; I just don't find humor in other people's humiliation. Pray, tell me how much amusement you can get by messing with a portrait when the monk wasn't awake enough to be aware of his surroundings in the first place."

A moment of silent contemplation passed before Potter tilted his head as if listening to the little devil Lily knew was sitting on his shoulder, but this time there was a ghost of a grin and a sparkle there that she was not as unfamiliar with.

Finally, Potter said, "Congrats, Evans, you just gave me a wonderful idea. You want to know how much amusement we can get? The same amount of amusement Sirius and I are gonna get when we repeat that," – he pointed to the now empty portrait the monk had just fled – "around the entire school. I'm pretty sure Sir Cadogan is going to have one hell of a makeover when his donkey wakes him up in the morning."

Lily's eyes widened, but Potter and Black glanced at each for half a second before they burst out laughing and raced for the Fat Lady's portrait.

"Potter – don't you – wait – I'll tell McGonagall!"

Lily spluttered with her words for a second before uttering those same words she always threatened the Marauders with whenever she caught them sneaking around, but Potter and Black had grown too used to her to care.

"Good luck proving anything, Evans!"

"Alice, come on!" urged Lily, turning to her best friend who seemed stuck between hilarity and disapproval. "Who knows what they'll do to those portraits – why are you just standing there? Weren't you the one who wanted to come downstairs to begin with?"

"Yeah …" Alice looked a little uncomfortable with the new turn of events. "Because I thought … y'know … that they would be pulling pranks on us, but c'mon, Lils, it's pretty funny when you think about it."

"Well, I'm going following them," said Lily, tightening the knot of her fluffy green dressing gown. "It's about damn time they learned they aren't invincible. You're welcome to help me."

She turned around to leave, and Alice hesitated, but she must have decided not to leave her friend alone to the mercy of the Marauders since she hurried to catch up to Lily, who was already at the entrance to the common room.

"Which way did they go?" Alice asked as they stepped out of the portrait hole and into the eerily empty castle, looking between all the different paths the two boys could have taken.

Lily shivered and drew her dressing gown closer. She had never broken curfew before, and the sight of an empty Hogwarts was much different from the hustle and bustle she was used to.

Turning back around, she asked the Fat Lady who was just settling in again, "Which way did Potter and Black go?"

The Fat Lady, who had obviously been sleeping, opened one eye, huffing angrily at the disturbances, and pointed toward the staircase leading down to the floors below.

"That way," she grunted before firmly shutting both eyes, making it quite clear she would not tolerate any more troubles until the sun came up in the morning.

"Thank you," said Lily quickly, grabbing Alice's arm and hurrying down the stairs.

Her socked feet numbed a little bit more each time they contacted the cold stone floor, the iciness seeping right through the thin cloth, and Lily pushed her feet up until she was walking on the balls of her feet, making as little contact with the freezing floor as possible. Beside her, she noticed that Alice's feet were nice and snug in fluffy slippers, and she worked to keep the jealousy down. The only advantage about having socks was that her steps were a lot quieter than they would usually be.

Along the way, Lily would spot sleeping portraits who already had mustaches or glasses drawn on their faces – a few times Potter or Black had added nose hair to some of the portraits – but those were the only clues Lily had as to where Potter and Black had already been. Other than that, the castle held no more cheer than a hag's lair. Lily had not realized just how much sunlight brightened up the school, but now when the only light came from evenly spaced torches, she found that she sorely missed the sunlight.

"Lily, there's no more portraits," said Alice as they finally reached the corridor leading to the Entrance Hall.

Lily's legs froze as she realized the same thing, and suddenly the full force of what they were doing hit her: she and Alice were out-of-bounds – about as far out-of-bounds as someone could get. The Gryffindor common room was seven floors away, and Lily suddenly grasped just how much she had depended on the fact that Potter and Black would only choose a route through the castle where they would not be caught.

But now they had strayed, and there was no telling where a ghost or teacher lurked, just waiting to give them detention. Lily's heart thudded – it was a wonder Peeves had not heard it already. She strained her ears to pick up the faintest grunt a portrait in the Charms corridor might make, but there was nothing to hear.

"Um, Lily?" piped Alice, her quivery voice sounding like clanging metal when it finally broke the silence. Alice's eyes jumped around between the darker corners, and she hugged herself tightly, shuffling closer to Lily. "I think we've lost the boys."

"I realize that," whispered Lily as quietly as she could. She grabbed hold of Alice's arm and started to drag her slowly backwards with her. "Let's just get back as quickly as we can before someone else –"

"Meow."

Lily stopped dead in her tracks at the sound, her entire body seizing up from the swift onslaught of panic that attacked her. Though she already knew what it was before she turned around, the fear that shot through her body only intensified as she saw the source of that dreaded sound: Filch's dust-colored feline, Mrs. Norris.

Though Filch had only had that cat since the beginning of this year, the various stories remained a point of heated conversation amongst many students. Mrs. Norris was as determined to catch rule-breakers as her owner was, and if the rumors were true, it took Filch less than a minute to show up to the scene of whatever crime Mrs. Norris had discovered – and right now the responsible criminals were Alice and Lily themselves.

Mrs. Norris turned and raced off in the direction they had come from. Her tail twitched excitedly as it flew behind the rest of the cat's body, and Lily know it was only a matter of time before Filch showed up in all his wheezing glory. There was nobody who knew the Hogwarts castle and all its hidden shortcuts and secret passages better than Filch – though she held a sneaking suspension that the Marauders might be able to give him a run for his money one of these days.

"C'mon, Alice – hurry," hissed Lily as loudly as she dared, hurrying backwards and dragging an immobilized Alice along with her. How long did they have? Two minutes? One? Thirty seconds at most? Not long, if the conversations she often overheard held any truth whatsoever.

As it turned out, they did not even have thirty seconds.

"Who's there?" growled Filch's raspy voice loudly from down the corridor.

A yellow glow from a lantern appeared at the opposite end of the corridor, bobbing closer and closer as Lily's panic grew more and more with each second of precious freedom that passed. Alice gasped beside her, clutching Lily's arm with a numbing grip. Her bright blue eyes were wider than they had ever been.

"Oh, Merlin, Filch is coming! Lily, what do we do? What do we do?!" she squeaked with fright, her voice several octaves higher than what it normally was.

"Shut up for starters," whispered Lily furiously, assessing all her escape options with a glancing eye – they were not good. The lantern's bobbing light blocked the way up to the Gryffindor common room, and the only places they could go would simply lead them farther and farther from the safety of their beds. How did the Marauders sneak around so much without getting caught? There had to be a couple tricks they had used before to avoid Filch, but she had never bothered to ask – and why would she? Lily did not usually wander out-of-bounds in the first place.

"Follow me," breathed Lily into Alice's ear.

Crouching on her tiptoes to stay as quiet as possible, she slowly tugged Alice backwards with her. The only solace Lily found was that Filch did not seem to know where they were yet, but that was likely to change soon.

"Come out, come out wherever you are," mocked Filch's horrible voice, and Alice whimpered.

"Slowly, slowly…" cautioned Lily.

CLANG!

It was just their luck that Alice had backed right into a suit of armor, toppling it over with a deafening crash that undoubtedly alerted every teacher, prefect, and ghost within a five-mile radius that two people were out of bed in the dead of night. There were three seconds when time literally hung motionless around them, and Lily stopped breathing for those moments. Alice's terrified eyes found Lily's own, and there was another moment that passed before –

"RUN!"

Both Lily and Alice all but sprinted to the opposite end of the corridor. The snoozing portraits which had previously been asleep were wide awake now, staring at the two girls with surprise and reproach, but Lily paid them no heed, instead flying down the corridors with Filch now in hot pursuit. Alice gasped and clutched her side, but she thankfully still managed to keep up with Lily despite her night exhaustion.

"You can't run from me, you little brats!" yelled Filch loudly from behind them.

Lily had no trouble resisting the urge to shout back since she had no energy to spare on anything that was not running. With the threat of Filch looming over her, there was not much in the way of motivation, and as much as Lily hated herself for it, the thrill of the escapade also lingered beneath the fear of detention. Was this how the Marauders felt whenever they snuck out in the middle of the night? If it was … well, perhaps she could understand those unknown adventures a little better.

Without paying the slightest bit of attention to where they were heading, the two of them had suddenly reached the grand staircase without meaning to. Lily paused for a second to catch her breath while Alice bent over, gulping in air and holding what must have been a stitch in her side. Glancing back, Lily groaned when she saw that the light still followed them, Filch's wheezing sounds closer than ever.

"Split up. It'll confuse Filch more," ordered Lily through gasps.

Alice's breathing had been growing more ragged the more they ran. Lily was thankful that she had always been a fast runner, but her friend never did any of those suicide drills Lily's football coach always made them complete.

"Are – you – crazy?" panted Alice, but at that moment she could not say anything more since they needed to get away before Filch saw them.

"See you up in the common room!" called Lily as she suddenly cut to the side, taking off down the grand staircase as fast as her feet would allow. She briefly heard Alice hiss some rather colorful swearwords into the night before her friend's footsteps disappeared off into a different direction, and Lily dearly hoped that she was not making a mistake by splitting up in an effort to make it harder for Filch to catch both of them.

There was not any time to try to get to the first-floor corridor; Filch would get there in time to see where she went, so instead, Lily flung herself to the bottom, catching hold of the circular end of the banister. Using the marble as an anchor point, Lily twisted around to the other direction without halting her momentum before taking a giant leap to fly past the smaller stairs leading to the dungeon. Just like she had when she was nine years old on that swing, Lily instinctively manipulated the air around her to carry her forward and land lightly on her feet. After hitting the floor, she once again took off running, only this time heading into the Hogwarts dungeons.

After some time had passed and she no longer heard Filch behind her, Lily dared to slow down her pace just enough to regain her breath. However, she still did not dare light her wand for fear of Filch seeing it, so she simply used the occasionally lit torch to show her the way. There were no portraits down here to report her whereabouts back to Filch, but that did not mean she was in the clear just yet. Lily may have been best friends with Severus, but that did not mean she was anxious to meet Avery or Mulciber or any other bad-tempered Slytherins down here at this time of night.

Lily strained her ears for any sign of Filch but heard nothing. It was still down here, and the only sound Lily heard was her own thudding heartbeat and the faint pats of her feet. The air down here was so much colder than the rest of the castle, and Lily hugged herself as tightly as she could. By now, her feet were completely numb.

The dark and icy silence smothered her, and before long, her yearning for the warmth of something familiar overcame her fear of Filch finding her – besides, it would take a lot for Mrs. Norris and her master to find Lily in the labyrinth of the school dungeons – and Lily finally gave in with a whispered, "Lumos," and the usual light flickered to life on the tip of her wand. The simple sight of her wand and the light filled her with a welcome warmth.

Upon closer inspection of her surroundings, Lily realized that she was in one of the furthest dungeons, ones that were far past her standard classroom eight. There were not many places she did not know very well yet, but this definitely counted as she had only been down here once, way back when she was a new first year still trying to find her way around.

Great, Lily could not help but think as she stared around the unfriendly stone walls. How the hell am I supposed to get out of here?

She wandered around for a little bit, quietly moving through the eerie corridors on just her tiptoes. Her breath came out as a mist, and Lily wrapped her housecoat closer to her, but the cold night air was unforgiving against her skin. The only solace she found was in her thick hair falling around her shoulders, insulating her neck.

Lily pressed her hair closer to her skin, spreading it evenly around her shoulders, and that was when she noticed that she was no longer alone. With only the darkness for company, the faint sliver of light stood out clearly against the night. It was coming from an old, worn-down door at the end of the corridor, drawing Lily closer and closer. As she crept towards the light, she seemed to pass an invisible boundary, and suddenly, she could hear a quiet hush of voices coming from behind the door. With a whispered "Nox" to extinguish her wand's light so nobody would notice, she stowed her wand away under her dressing gown and approached the door cautiously.

There were a couple of other similar doors on either side as Lily inched forward, her curiosity burning with an unhealthy need to be satisfied, but the door at the end of the hall was the only one to have the light showing through the slit at the bottom. A gut feeling told her that she did not want to know what was going on behind the door, but Lily pushed it away, her inquisitiveness too strong for something as simple as a gut feeling to overcome it easily.

"… only have to tell us where they are and then the pain stops."

The threatening voice clearly belonged to a woman. The words were barely above whisper, but there was no mistaking the malice laced into the tone. The voice held a certain coldness that was icier than the stone Lily stood on and more unforgiving than the night's darkness, but what was even more disturbing was that speaker sounded almost like she was … she was enjoying herself – as if nothing could be more amusing than provoking fear in others.

Lily's heart was close to bursting out of her chest, and she had never been so aware of her pulsing carotid. Despite every instinct screaming at her to run, she leaned forward, resting one palm on the stone wall and the other gently on the thick door so that she could peer closer through the small, vertical opening between the edge of the door and the wall.

"You would like that, wouldn't you, you little bitch?" grunted a cracked voice – Professor Stoughton.

Something caught in her throat, and Lily choked slightly. Her teacher was directly in her line of sight, and it was impossible to mistake the ropes tied tightly around his wrists as anything other than the restraints they were meant to be. Stoughton himself looked horrible: a black eye, a broken nose with blood flowing freely from it, and several red bruises on his face as if somebody had vented their anger by punching Stoughton in the head.

Somebody else swooped down on Stoughton, pushing his head back forcefully until he was looking straight into his attacker's face. With a jolt, Lily suddenly recognized the woman as the same one who had noticed Lily at her first Sorting, the woman who had been furious when the Hat placed Black in Gryffindor rather than Slytherin – had Black called her Bellatrix? Back then, Lily only got a distant glance of Bellatrix, but even then, Lily felt a prickle of fear when she looked at the Slytherin. Now, the malevolence Bellatrix radiated was heart-stopping.

"Yes, I suppose I would like that," sneered Bellatrix, teasingly poking his cheek with her dangerous wand. She surveyed Stoughton, a contemplating expression in her eyes, but after ten seconds, her face rapidly morphed into one of anger. She jabbed her wand into Stoughton's chin, angling his face back even more than it was, and she spat, "And you're going to give me what I want because I can make things very difficult for you, so you – had – better – start – talking."

Stoughton, however, did not break his façade.

Instead, he chuckled, "Die and send me a postcard from Hell – then maybe I'll reconsider. Until then, do something useful and go feed some pigs."

Lily hardly dared to breathe as she watched Bellatrix shake with fury, her face draining of any blood except for the flush of her cheeks. She did not look so beautiful right now, with her pale face and blackened eyes, but Stoughton offered up nothing else, instead settling on giving her a hard, determined glare. Bellatrix tightened her grip, but when Stoughton did not flinch, she pushed him away in disgust.

"That's how you're going to play, are you?" she demanded feverishly, stepping away from the small spot Lily could see, though that did not stop Lily from hearing her. Bellatrix sounded like she was standing on the precipice of insanity, and terror seized hold of Lily, refusing to let her move an inch.

"Fine. I've got other ways to persuade you – Crucio!"

It was not any spell Lily had ever heard of, but the effects were immediate: Stoughton collapsed to the ground, convulsing in such a way that Lily felt sick to her stomach, but the worst part was the screams – heinous, drawn-out shrieks of agony. Lily jerked her hands to plug her ears and shut her eyes tight, but nothing she did could completely block out Stoughton's voice.

Above it all – incredibly – she could hear Bellatrix's laughter.

"Go ahead, Stoughton, scream! Nobody can hear you, so just let it out!"

Mercifully, it finally stopped. Lily cautiously pulled her hands away from her ears. When there was nothing but Bellatrix's laughter, she pressed herself against the door to see what had made the curse stop. Thankfully, Stoughton had not lost consciousness, but even though Bellatrix had momentarily lifted the curse, he was not fully cognizant now either. Instead, Stoughton twitched and groaned from the residual effects of the curse, awake but not aware.

"That felt good, didn't it?" cackled Bellatrix wickedly. "Should we give him another taste, Delran?"

The question was directed to somebody standing off out of Lily's line of sight, and there was only a grunt for a reply. Bellatrix did not seem to care about the answer anyways since she studied Stoughton with an expert eye.

"Hmmm, I think he needs some more encouragement."

"You'll have to kill me," moaned Stoughton. He could not lift his head all the way, but he managed to twist his body to stare directly into Bellatrix's eyes. "You'll have to kill me, Black, because no matter what you do to me, I'm taking the secret to the grave."

Bellatrix threw her head back and shrieked, but unlike Stoughton, she shrieked with laughter rather than pain.

"Do you not realize that I have all the time in the world? We're in a room where nobody ever goes, and the corridors are surrounded by a Silencing Charm – I can literally keep you down here forever. Maybe another round, eh? You'll never know when dear old Jack here'll decide to go off the deep end. I would say 'prepare yourself', old man, but there's little use in that, isn't there?"

Lily watched with horror as Bellatrix raised her arm to prepare for spell casting, a malicious glint in those dark, endless eyes, and Lily could not keep in her squeak of fear.

But she was not the only one to hear the squeak.

Bellatrix whipped around with stunning speed at the new, unexpected sound, her forceful gaze penetrating right past the door to Lily herself and a voice like the crack of a whip.

"Who's there?"

The harsh demand came at Lily with such force that she had trouble opening her mouth, but that was not what she needed to be worried about for the moment – Bellatrix was heading right for the door.

A feeling of terror like she had never known seized hold of Lily, immobilizing her limbs. Though her mind screeched at her to run, her body would not obey, and Bellatrix's footsteps moved closer and closer. Her right leg twitched the slightest bit, and at that Lily again started to battle with the fear for control of her legs. With stumbling steps, she started to move backwards just as Bellatrix flung open the door with her wand at the ready, but – of all the times to be clumsy – Lily tripped over one of her feet and fell backwards.

All it took for her to freeze up once again was that glitter of something in Bellatrix's eyes, something – there was no other word for it – evil. Staring into those dark, unforgiving eyes, horror settled in. Bellatrix held no qualms when it came to what she was capable of; she was a psychopath, plain and simple. She would hurt, scorn, and kill Lily, and all it would take would be one momentary urge at the right moment to perform the curse and bam – before she knew it, Lily would be six feet under.

"Well, what do we have here?" taunted Bellatrix with contempt clear in her voice.

She bent down so she was level with Lily, a vindictive glimmer in her eyes that sent shivers running through Lily's body – Lily herself still had not yet regained control of her extremities. Without another word, Bellatrix seized her hair and dragged her into the room.

"Look, Stoughton, you've got company – not that Mudblood filth are much company anyways."

The static front Stoughton had kept up until then briefly slipped when Bellatrix revealed their eavesdropper. His eyes widened in shock; Lily had never seen Stoughton scared, not even when Potter had told their DADA class about the "fireworks" under their seats, but now … now he was clearly terrified. Whether the fear was for her or Stoughton himself, she did not know, but that did not matter: if Stoughton was worried, then everybody else should have been bloody petrified. It was that expression more than anything else that drove home to Lily just how serious the situation was.

"Bellatrix," said Stoughton in a strangely distant voice, "Your quarrel is with me, not with other students –"

"Wrong!" yelled Bellatrix exasperatedly. "Wrong, wrong, wrong! I don't have a quarrel with anybody – you're just in my way, that's all."

The grip tightened even more, and Lily squeezed the hands that held her hair, partly to try to push Bellatrix off and partly to lessen the pain.

Bellatrix was not having any of it though, and she ruthlessly slammed Lily to the floor where her head hit the stone floor with a painful thwack! Her eyes watered from the sharp throbbing, but before she could move, Bellatrix's boot pressed itself against her windpipe. However, Bellatrix was not looking at her; she was looking at Stoughton with triumph.

"Just like this filth here is in the way. Now … shall we try again, Stoughton? CRUCIO!"

The swift onslaught that followed had no words that could accurately describe it; it was pain beyond pain. The liquid flames raced through her bones, searing every inch of her body and slicing into her skin like white-hot knives. Somewhere, somebody was screaming – maybe it was her, maybe it was only her overwhelmed mind – but the burning pain that was far, far past unbearable consumed her thoughts, blocking out everything else. Lily tried to fight it, to remind herself that it was just a spell, but the piercing fire burned away anything that dared intrude on the torture.

Make it stop, make it stop, make it stop ….

And then just like that, it was over.

The dreary and cool air was an eternal paradise compared to that … that agony, and Lily simply drifted in the bliss, too disoriented to make sense of her surroundings. Her limbs still twitched and shook from the torture Bellatrix had inflicted, but even if Lily had the ability to order her legs to stop moving, she simply could not process anything except that the torment was over. Somewhere above her, somebody was yelling, and the words floated into her ears slowly.

"… only thirteen years old, you sick, twisted BASTARD! She is no threat to you, Black – you're despicable is what you are," spat Stoughton, his voice shaking with repulsion and horror.

There was a broken scuffling sound, as if Stoughton was struggling against the ropes restraining his arms, but a thud of someone smashing their fist against a body and a groan ended Stoughton's efforts.

"Oh, don't worry," laughed Bellatrix. "That little show was just for my own entertainment. The real fun hasn't even begun."

Lily's eyes fluttered open as she let her head roll to the side, taking in the scene. One of the men in the background who she had not initially seen was standing next to Stoughton with a tightly curled fist – he must have been the person who threw the punch – while another stood back in the shadows. Bellatrix stood with her back facing Lily, but it was not hard to imagine the glee on her face as Lily watched her twirl a wand excitedly in her fingers. Stoughton was bent over but not on the ground yet, and he glowered at Bellatrix.

"We won't let you get away with this, Black – I don't care if you're a couple weeks' shy of graduating or a hundred years past that," growled Stoughton, and Bellatrix burst out laughing at that, her voice cold and cruel next to the other two's nervous low chuckles as if she had never heard anything so funny.

Taking advantage of the brief distraction, Lily weakly lifted her head as much as she could to assess her options, and Stoughton's warning words during the classes that she had never realized would be so crucial so soon came back, clearer in that moment than she knew it would ever be: She was cornered with no options left. The probability that Lily could take on such a proficient and unforgiving seventh year like Bellatrix even without her two Slytherin cronies was below zero, and her only ally was just as debilitated as she was from that curse – not to mention he was restrained as well.

She realized that she was going to die.

"Do you not get it, old man?" shrieked Bellatrix. "I don't care what it takes; you are going to tell me where they are – here, I'll give you some more encouragement."

Lily quickly realized what Bellatrix was doing seconds before it happened.

"Please – no – please –" she yelped tearfully.

But her pleading was cut off by the return of that excruciating pain, and her words instantly transformed into screams as the scorching blaze drove under her skin, setting fire to every nerve in her body. It was inconceivable that this kind of agony could exist. Lily's only thought was to make it stop, but her mind could not break free from the inferno of pain long enough to form any words at all.

The torture continued, far longer than the first round, and if possible, the fire amplified even more, past what it had previously been. It pulsed within her, submerging her into a blaze that burned hotter than Hell itself. Just beyond the flames, a wonderful void of unconsciousness beckoned her, and Lily reached for it fervently, but just before she could touch it, the pain stopped – a sudden, abrupt stop that was unexpected but welcoming all the same.

Lily was once again back in the dungeon with Bellatrix, and she lay against the stone, gasping. There was not much time to recover as Bellatrix seized her, pulling her up by her hair. Lily offered up what token resistance she could muster, but her strength was extinguished under Bellatrix's absolute control, and only her quiet sobs remained unchallenged. Bellatrix opened her mouth to cast the curse for a third time, but somebody else filled the silence before she could.

"Wait."

It was Stoughton. The professor seemed to be struggling with himself over what to do, and after several seconds passed with only silence, Bellatrix was clearly growing impatient.

"What's your name, Mudblood?"

"W-what?" asked Lily shakily, confusion worming its way through her fear.

"I said: what's your name, Mudblood?" roared Bellatrix, and she violently shook Lily by the hair for emphasis.

Lily yelped in pain.

"L-L-Lily E-Evans," she rushed fearfully. "Please, I promise I won't tell – just let me go."

Bellatrix coldly ignored her; instead, she fixed her calculating glare back on Stoughton.

"You don't seem to understand how this works: you talk, and Mudblood Evans here …" She smirked, and Lily's blood froze with panic. "… well, people won't have to put all the little parts back together for her funeral."

Those words ceased Lily's struggles, and a dry sob of terror escaped before Bellatrix callously threw her backwards where she collapsed onto the stone floor in a diminutive heap. With difficulty, Lily raised her face in hopes of making eye contact with Stoughton. She had not realized that tears flowed freely from her eyes, but Lily choked back a threatening sob long enough to whisper one more "… please …" before falling back to the ground, curling up into a desolate little ball with all hopes of a rescue evaporating once more into the air.

"I'm waiting!" growled Bellatrix, but when Stoughton said nothing, Bellatrix had clearly reached the limit of her patience.

Grabbing Lily's right arm, she yanked it closer to her and held her wand so that it hovered millimeters from Lily's skin. Glowering at Stoughton, she started to slowly yet deliberately move her wand, and Lily yelped. It felt as if Bellatrix was carving something into the skin on her wrist – which, Lily realized, she was.

Lily tried to twist her arm away, but Bellatrix was too strong.

"I'm going to be generous, okay, Jack? By the time I finish writing this little Mudblood's name," – Here, Bellatrix finished with the first long line, and she slowly brought her wand around to trace the next part of whatever letter she was carving into Lily's skin – "I'm going to kill her slowly and painfully," – She finished with the next traced line before once again changing direction, this time bringing it up at an angle towards her fingers – "And the only way her poor parents will be able to identify her is by this." Bellatrix finished with the third line, and by now, Lily's wrist was dripping blood.

Mudblood, Lily realized through the haze. She's carving "Mudblood" into my wrist.

Gleefully, Bellatrix once again brought her wand down to finish the last downward part of the "M", but she did not get any farther.

"Stop – STOP!" Stoughton yelled.

Bellatrix was clearly happy that her torture had done the trick because she bodily threw the crying and bleeding Lily to the ground as she stood up and glared expectantly at Stoughton. Stoughton kept his cold gaze fixed firmly on Bellatrix, either unwilling or unable to look at Lily.

"I can't give you the information you seek, Black, no matter how hard you try. It's a wasted effort no matter how much your master wants the location." Here, his eyes fleetingly flickered down to meet Lily's gaze before once again concentrating on Bellatrix. "Don't you remember your first lesson?"

Bellatrix snorted.

"That has no relevance here, old man."

But it does, thought Lily suddenly, lifting her eyes up once again, though Stoughton's face remained stoic. A spark of hope she had previously been too scared to allow in emerged from the deep corners of her mind. The first lesson … the very first lesson Stoughton had ever taught her slowly surfaced from up between the overwhelming fear: when surrounded with no other options left, run.

He was not talking to Bellatrix – he was talking to Lily.

Stoughton had no other options left; he was wandless, restrained, and needed. Lily, however, still had her wand on her, safely stuffed under her fluffy robe that was now covered in the grime of the dungeon floor. Bellatrix was not paying any attention to her, the helpless little second year. Her hands and legs remained unbound, free to take the opportunity to escape as soon as it presented itself. Stoughton did not openly acknowledge her realization, but a spark of relief flickered in his eyes … which was when Lily realized something else as well.

No, Stoughton didn't have any other options left. Lily was still in a place to escape should the opportunity lend itself, but Bellatrix would not ever let Stoughton have enough time to undo the ropes and take back his wand, at least not without a fight, and Lily had no hope of dueling a witch with Bellatrix's level of skill. Indecision warred within Lily: Should she save herself, or should she risk those precious seconds to untie Stoughton?

Bellatrix swooped down on Stoughton, grabbing his head, much like she had done to Lily except that Stoughton was too heavy to lift.

"I'm growing tired of your riddles, old man. Speak straight, or you'll soon find out just how proficient I've become in all the Unforgivable Curses – I think I'm going to really relish killing you."

Slowly, Stoughton grinned as if he was enjoying riling Bellatrix up, and his teeth were a little bloodied from the punch Bellatrix's crony Delran had thrown.

"I would say 'go to hell' – but then again, we both know even Hell makes exceptions for maggot-infested cunts like you."

Bellatrix's face drained of blood, her dark eyes gleamed with a wrath that most would have feared. She shoved Stoughton away with vehemence and raised her wand slowly, leering maliciously as her lips parted to speak the last, fatal curse – before she stopped, eyebrows knit in confusion as she followed Stoughton's wide-eyed gaze.

Lily had seized the opportunity when Bellatrix stepped away from her. The two Slytherin cronies had also stepped forward, eager for a show, and that was when Lily, her legs so shaky that they could barely support her, slowly got to her feet as quietly as possible and withdrew her wand, the warm wood filling her with a renewed sense of hope and resolve. It would have been so easy to slip out the door with her socked feet – Bellatrix honestly would not care less about a harmless little girl – but Lily could not just leave her teacher, which was why Stoughton was giving her the wide-eyed look that begged her: Run! NOW!

Realizing that Stoughton was distracted, Bellatrix followed his line of sight and noticed the standing Lily with her wand drawn, and after a moment of blank confusion, the woman burst into laughter, white teeth flashing against the dark room's dimly lit torches. Stoughton shook his head, urging her to run, but Lily refused. Bellatrix may have a hundred times her knowledge and skill, but at that moment Lily's earlier distress vanished in light of a new courage that slowly thawed her frozen mind and body.

"Flipendo!" cried Lily, yelling the first spell that popped up in her mind.

There was no doubt that Bellatrix could have simply blocked the Knockback Jinx, but she was clearly not expecting that Lily would dare try to fight back. The little streak of blue light, so unremarkable next to the might of Bellatrix's arsenal of powerful curses, flew across the room and was at that moment that best spell Lily would ever cast. It caught Bellatrix by surprise, and the woman went flying into the air before crashing into one of her Slytherin buddies, sending them both sprawling.

"Evans, get out of here!" roared Stoughton.

He rose to his feet and slammed into the other of Bellatrix's friends who was too shocked to move – Delran. Delran crumpled, stunned, and offered no resistance when Stoughton wrestled two wands out of his hand. He snapped one, a short black thing, with barely a second thought and used the other, the longer one that she quickly recognized as Stoughton's own, to effortlessly burn through the ropes. He immediately moved forward to Lily, who was still shocked by what she had just done.

"Evans, listen to me," muttered Stoughton as quickly as he could get the words out, bending down in front of Lily, who was on the edge of hysterics, and grabbing her face with his hands so that he could look her dead in the eye. "Run. Don't stop and don't look back, no matter what you hear. Voldemort's looking, tell Dumbledore that – Voldemort knows and is searching. Now go! Go!"

He pushed her away past the doorway before turning around, wand out and ready to fight Bellatrix and Delran, both of whom had just gotten to their feet.

"You're not getting out of here that easily," snarled Bellatrix. She was no longer laughing.

Slashing the air with her wand, Bellatrix sent a stream of purple energy hurtling at Stoughton, but with the reflexes that could only be honed from decades of experience, he rapidly threw up a shield. The hex rebounded and hit the other person whom Lily's Knockback Jinx had momentarily stunned with just as he was getting to his feet, and the Slytherin toppled over once again, motionless.

The duel that followed was incredible. Both Bellatrix and Stoughton moved with speeds Lily could never hope to match, effortlessly casting and blocking spells as if they were engaged in a deadly but graceful dance. Lily could not tear her eyes away from them – it was simply too entrancing. Delran was also there, sending whatever nuisances he could come up with Stoughton's way. It was evenly matched, and though Stoughton seemed to gain the upper hand several times, Bellatrix and Delran would throw him off with lucky synchronized spells, forcing him out of the rhythm.

One of Delran's spells, a flash of red light, flew above Lily, missing her head by inches, and it was that close call which jarred her out of the trance the duel had tricked her into. She shuffled backwards as quickly as she could while Stoughton still fought off Bellatrix and Delran. Delran stumbled backwards as one of Stoughton's spells grazed his shoulder, and Stoughton glanced back at the retreating Lily, waving his hand at her to just turn around and run.

That was when it happened.

Bellatrix had seen an opening, but this time she would not bother trying to question Stoughton endlessly – she was going in solely for the final kill shot. The glee on her face was sickening, and Lily needed no textbook to interpret that repulsive expression, alive at the thought of such bloodshed – it glittered in her eyes with such clarity that Lily hoped to never witness it ever again.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" roared Bellatrix.

The jet of green light sailed through the air, and though every inch of her being begged to do something – anything – to stop the fatal curse, Lily could do nothing by observe helplessly from the sidelines. Stoughton's eyes widened when he heard Bellatrix's words, and he tried to twist away to avoid it, but he was a fraction too slow. Lily screamed for her teacher as the lethal streak hit his shoulder. Another half-second, and the curse would have missed – but it did not. The fatal blow had struck, and Lily watched, speechless and full of horror, as Stoughton crumpled to the ground where he lay, dead.

Time froze, only broken by Bellatrix's triumphant shriek of victory while Lily could not take her eyes off Stoughton's own, which blankly stared up at the unadorned stone ceiling. The only thing left in his eyes was the ghost of surprise that still echoed across those glass orbs that had only moments before been so full of life and energy.

Somewhere in the back of Lily's mind, the instinct to flee kicked in, and she slowly took staggering steps backwards. Bellatrix noticed this, and, before Lily could do much more than yell, she sent a Trip Jinx. An invisible wire caught her ankles, and Lily fell backwards flat on her back. There a wincing thud and stars floating in her eyes after the back of her head smacked the stone, and the wind escaped her lungs in a single moment. Lily coughed desperately to regain her breath, but before she could, Bellatrix had swooped down, sticking her wand into her chin.

"If there's one thing I don't like in this world, it's filthy little Mudbloods who go sticking their noses into business they shouldn't be sticking their noses in," sneered Bellatrix. "Now who else knows where you are? Say the names, and perhaps they won't have to suffer what you're about to experience – tell me, you filthy little Mudblood!"

But Lily firmly kept her mouth shut, praying that the defiant spark was enough to mask the fear. Bellatrix wanted to know about her friends, did she? Well, she was not getting squat if Lily had anything to do with it.

Bellatrix may simply see them as potential informers if Lily went missing after tonight, no matter how oblivious the witnesses were to Bellatrix's involvement, but to Lily, they were the people who were the de facto allies who did not even have the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time – they just happened to see Lily before she herself wound up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Alice. Sweet, innocent Alice, her best friend and most loyal confidant…. How could she tell Bellatrix? The people that were a part of Lily – even Potter and Black, who were incredibly frustrating but at the same time held an important place in her world – they did not know anything about what had happened down here, but Bellatrix was willing to wipe them out just because they might remember that Lily had been heading in the same direction as Bellatrix and her cronies had been.

No, Bellatrix was not getting shit.

A flash of crazy impulsiveness rose up within her, which was when Lily did something that was either incredibly brave or exceptionally stupid.

She spat at Bellatrix.

With a dangerously calm face, Bellatrix slowly wiped the spit from her face, her eyes glowing. Without another word, an invisible force abruptly sent Lily flying through the air, failing uselessly as she clawed for anything to stop her. However, there was nothing to slow her descent, and Lily crashed into a far pillar, her forehead smashing against the marble with an excruciating CRACK! She then fell to the floor in a motionless heap.

The Slytherins' laughter reverberated through the corridor, teasing and taunting her as she lay, too stunned to move, with her back facing the Slytherins. Her head throbbed from where it had hit the stone statue, and the persistent effects of Bellatrix's "Crucio"curse lingered in her shaking arms. Lily tried push through the pain, but her fear was crushing, smothering any effort she made to pull herself together. There was nothing to do but lie there, allowing the defeat to quash any remaining shred of hope about getting out of this mess alive.

"Did you knock her out?" asked Delran's voice from somewhere behind her.

The heavy footfalls that could not have belonged to anybody else shuffled closer.

"I don't know – probably," said Bellatrix carelessly. "The Mudblood and Stoughton are weak. Oh, sorry," – she laughed cruelly – "Stoughton was weak, that coward."

White-hot anger shot through Lily at those words, burning away every other thought in her mind. The fury raced through her body, emboldening her as the paralyzing fear evaporated from her legs, and her blood boiled with a rage Potter could not ever hope to trigger within her. The haze, which had previously clouded her mind, slowly ebbed away, replaced with a new feeling of sheer determination. The dread still gnawed at her, but at the moment, her head was crystal clear. A plan – a wild, crazy plan so audacious that even the daring Sirius Black would doubt it – slowly formed.

The sound of their approaching steps echoed through the stone floor that pressed against her cold cheek, and Lily clutched her wand tightly, blood pounding in her ears. Though she had only the slimmest of slim chances to escape the two seventh years, she knew that her need for vengeance surpassed those Slytherins' twisted wish for amusement. Stoughton may have been dead, but at that moment he was right there next to her, bringing her the courage that she would desperately need in these next few moments.

A wand point pressed into Lily's shoulder, and she held her breath as it poked her twice as if checking for responsiveness. It was do-or-die. There would be no mistakes, no second chances – and Lily knew in that moment what her decision was with more conviction than anything else in her life. Stoughton had fought for both of them with a courage that Lily could not ever hope to possess, but now it was her turn to finish what her mentor had started – and Lily absolutely refused to fail Stoughton now after all he had done for her.

The wand prodded her once more. Delran must have decided that she was unconscious because he stepped back and said, "What do you want to do with the Mud –"

He never got the chance to finish his sentence because that was when Lily retaliated.

"FLIPENDO!"

The spell was out of her mouth before she had even finished flipping over onto her back. All the rage, all the pain, all the desperation that had overwhelmed Lily before … she funneled it all into that single, signature spell.

The jinx was not just a single streak of blue light; rather, it was a blast of pure energy that radiated from her wand, filling every inch of the corridor with a blinding azure shockwave. Her attack was too sudden for even the swift and skilled Bellatrix to react with much more than a silent cry of surprise as the curse rammed into the Slytherins. She and Delran both soared backwards like rag dolls in the wind, flailing around just as uselessly as Lily had when Bellatrix was the one with the upper-hand.

That was when Lily ran like hell.

She had no wish to stick around to witness Bellatrix and Delran's utter shock. They would recover soon enough, only this time anger at the humiliation would accompany Bellatrix, and Lily knew with utmost certainty that Bellatrix would not be toying with her anymore – she would go in for the kill, just like she had done with Stoughton, and there would be no hope of escape. Lily would be nothing but an empty shell for her parents to bury without any answers as to how her sudden death could have possibly happened.

There was only one single thought that echoed through the fear that fueled her: get away.

Nothing else mattered to her, not the destination, not the direction, not anything. The only thing she fixated on was putting one foot in front of the other as she raced down the empty corridor, merely a blur to any observing eyes. The place where her head had hit the statue must have been open since blood dripped down over her left eye, but the adrenaline rushing throughout her body blocked the pain; Lily pushed ahead, not even bothering to wipe away the blood.

"Get her! GET THE MUDBLOOD!" screamed Bellatrix's voice.

A jet of green light identical to the curse take had taken Stoughton's life flew over her shoulder, missing by only a couple of inches, but Lily did not dare look back to observe her pursuers.

Her legs were operating on pure adrenaline now, and against all odds, Lily reached the staircase leading up to Entrance Hall. She flew up the steps three at a time before bursting out into the hall. Another streak of light sailed above her shoulder so close that her hair fluttered. That spurred Lily on, and she made the spilt second decision to take the corridor rather than waste time hurrying up the enormous staircase that would give Bellatrix a perfect opening to deliver the final, fatal blow.

Along the way, Lily cast her wand around wildly, shooting hexes and charms left and right with such frequency that she was no longer sure which spells did what. Lily only hoped to make as much noise as she could, and pretty soon the air was thick with the crashes of falling suits of armor and the yelping and swearing of portraits who had been abruptly woken from their sleep – Lily would apologize to them later, if she ever made it out of this mess alive.

"Who's making that racket?" yelled a voice, and soon hurrying footsteps could be heard from the corridor ahead.

Lily had never been so thrilled to get caught by a prefect, and she cried out desperately. As two people – a boy and a girl – emerged in front of her, wands out and ready, she nearly fainted with relief. When the two people first noticed Lily, the expressions both wore were plainly annoyed until they noticed Lily's own expression; then Bellatrix sent another curse Lily's way, and the older students, realizing that they had not happened on a run-of-the-mill rule breaker, reacted instantly with their own wands, each creating their own unique defensive maneuvers.

"What the hell is going on here?" demanded the boy, the one with a Gryffindor crest and a prefect badge shining against his black robes as he watched the telltale green light hit the far wall, burning a sizzling hole into the solid rock. Though her mind was hazy, Lily vaguely recognized him as the same student who had dueled Lucius Malfoy in the middle of the Entrance Hall to much applause.

Bellatrix rounded the corner then, but the other girl, whose face Lily had difficulty placing, had already charmed several statues to leap to their defense. Bellatrix, who had been solely focused on Lily, skidded to a halt as the clanging of three separate gargoyles jumped in front of Bellatrix. There was a second when nothing happened, but then Bellatrix primed herself for defense just as the gargoyles leaped towards them.

"Sturgis, we need to get out of here! We need to get Dumbledore!" yelled the girl above the din of the gargoyles fighting off the Slytherins; she herself had a Ravenclaw badge on her robes. Bellatrix had only taken out one of the gargoyles so far, reducing it to a pile of broken rocks and dust, but it was easy to tell that the battle was taking every ounce of her concentration, and Delran was already knocked out of the battle.

Bellatrix must have realized that she was fighting a losing battle: There was no way to get rid of Lily without opening herself up to an attack by the gargoyles, but Sturgis and the other girl were already retreating to alert Dumbledore – and despite Bellatrix's skill, Lily knew that she would not dare try to fight Dumbledore in a one-on-one duel. With a final sneer, she backpedaled, but not before she fired one last fatal jet of green light, and Lily prepared herself to duck.

Except it did not come at her.

Bellatrix had aimed it at Delran. Lily's cry of disbelief went unheard as the green curse hit Delran directly in the chest. There was a brief flicker of surprise in Delran's eyes before he simply slumped over, just as dead as Stoughton, and Bellatrix fled, but before Lily could even begin to comprehend just how carelessly Bellatrix had disposed of her fellow Slytherin, someone was pulling her away to safety.

The person guiding her was whispering something in her ear, but Lily could not understand the words; she was too shattered – physically, mentally, and magically – to make sense of anything. The clarity the adrenaline provided had vanished, and the world dissolved into the blurry colors and sounds. She felt hands take her shoulders, and somebody bent down in front of her, speaking in muddled sounds. The person in front of her would have been familiar to Lily – considering she had seen him before – but at that moment, the only thing she could see was the all-consuming image of Stoughton's eyes … empty and lifeless …

Perhaps it was the grief, or maybe she was simply too exhausted, but after all of what she had pushed herself through tonight, her legs finally gave out, her body trembling and shaking. Somebody caught her in their arms and murmured indiscernible words in a soothing and calming tone, but the only thing Lily recognized was the blanket of unconsciousness that wrapped around her, lulling her into a much needed sleep.


I'm not sure if everybody understood that part, but Bellatrix killed Delran because even though Lily was a witness, Delran knew of her plans, and she didn't want Dumbledore to learn her plans. Also, I hope that I got Bellatrix right. I absolutely loved how Helena Bonham Carter portrayed Bellatrix in the films, and I tried to make her seem unhinged as best I could – I know that part of that came from Azkaban, but I really preferred crazy, disturbed Bellatrix over plain mean Bellatrix.