Chapter 3: Dead or Alive
Marlene stumbled through the fireplace, struggling to keep her carefully controlled composure as she tried to support Ana's frame. Exiting from the floo network was hard at the best of times, but having to lug another girl through with her made it a billion times harder.
Barely able to walk, Analeigh clung to the staggering Marlene as she tried to right herself by leaning against the marble fireplace.
"Akfnasfnj." Ana mumbled unintelligible as her head lolled backwards against Marlene's shoulder.
Suddenly a deliberate cough issued from the doorway leading towards the staircase. A tall, imposing figure stood framed in the faint light issuing from a nearby lamp, her eyebrows were neat and positioned in a perfect arch above her coffee coloured eyes.
"What is going on here?" The woman asked, an arm perched just on her hip.
Marlene squinted up towards the figure trying to juggle the inebriated girl in her grasp, the woman walk further into the light so she was illuminated by the soft, rosy grow. She was a dramatic figure, all long limbs perfectly positioned.
"Hello Mrs Urquart." Marlene replied wearily. "We're just coming home from the party."
The woman sniffed imperiously and replied in slightly accented English, "I certainly hope none of the neighbours saw."
Marlene had to resist the urge to sigh impatiently; the woman was lecturing them without even offering to help with the slumped figure that was her daughter. "No Mrs Urquart, we went via the floo network. Not to mention that most of your neighbours live over half a mile away."
Ana's mother merely deigned to sigh, as if the younger girl's very presence was tedious. "Just ensure you don't embarrass yourselves."
Sienna Urquart was always so very concerned about appearance. Take that night: despite it being three in the morning her hair was perfectly curled and falling in tumbling waves down her back. Her face looked so flawless it was impossible that it was all natural, a few glimmer charms here and a perfectly plucked eyebrow there. Even her outfit was impeccable, a silk dressing gown that came to mid-thigh to reveal long olive toned legs. There was never a hair out of place when Sienna was around. It might have come from her insecurity: she was an Italian countess trying to fit in with the British hierarchy she'd been dumped into.
"Of course Mrs Urquart." Marlene nodded, jostling Ana's weight to try to keep them both upright.
"Well don't disturb me again and keep away from the windows." Sienna Urquart replied, stopping only to give one more contemptuous sniff before sweeping dramatically away.
"Right," Marlene said when the older woman had disappeared through the doorway. "Time to get you upstairs Ana."
"Oki." Analeigh muttered sleepy as she tottered in her heels.
They made the slow journey upstairs towards Ana's bedroom, filled with many swearwords and painful stumbles as they manoeuvred the staircase. Finally they reached the door, Marlene managed to prop her up against the wall and keep her stable enough to open the door.
"For Merlin's sake," Marlene muttered underneath her breath. "You really owe me Analeigh."
The other girl merely grunted in response. Marlene and Ana didn't have the best of relationships and there was always a layer of tension when they were alone, so Marlene cursed the fact that she was the one dealing with her.
Eventually they conquered the last few steps towards the bed and Marlene gently shoved the brunette onto the bed. Ana immediately curled up into a ball and groaned dramatically, clutching at her stomach.
"Oh for fucks sake Ana," Marlene said, rushing to grab a wastepaper basket from beside the door. "Please don't vomit, and a least take your shoes off."
"Sorry." Analeigh replied, her usually confident voice masked and muffled by drink, she stumbled forward and kicked off the shoes before crawling under her comforter.
"Well the bin is here just in case." Marlene sighed, smoothing the duvet around her in a moment of unexpected sympathy for the drunken girl.
"Mar," The girl mumbled.
"Yeah," She replied.
"I need to tell you." Ana moaned almost desperately as she wriggled around under the thick covers, her voice had an almost whiny quality to it. Spouting out words in that adorably drunken way. "I love…" She began but didn't get a chance to even finish the sentence before gagging into the bin.
"I love…" Ana continued; clenching and unclenching her fists against the blankets. Suddenly she snuffled in closer to her pillow and let out a small sigh. "Don't tell Lily."
"Okay." Marlene chuckled, not entirely sure what it was she wasn't supposed to tell their feisty best friend. "I promise."
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The world was spinning in a swirling mass of colour, so headache inducing that the moment she peeled open her eyes, she wanted to close them again. Knowing it might not be the smartest thing to do, she kept them open until the blurred mess solidified into three human beings. Their faces loomed into her vision as the room decided to right itself.
At first Lily's eyes zeroed on in her mother: who was currently sobbing over her daughter's bed as she clung to her hand. Next came her father, his arm wrapped steadily around his wife's shoulders and his face set in a mask of steadfast worry.
The third figure was not one that Lily recognised. The woman was fairly tall with a slight, willowy frame that gave her an air of gracefulness even though she was in complete stillness. Her face was the perfect mixture of concern and comfort as she patted her hand against Mr Evans' shoulder. The woman was also stunningly beautiful as she absentmindedly brushed away a strand of honeyed hair as she murmured undoubtedly reassuring words to Lily's parents. Though this didn't quite register in Lily's mind, as all she felt was the aching that issued from limb of her body, sending her brain reeling.
"Lily!" Mrs Evans cried, noticing her daughter's eyes fluttering open as she grasped her daughter's hand even tighter. "Thank god you're awake!"
Lily gave a weak smile and limply squeezed her mother's hand back, her fist though to reassure her mum, knowing the concern would be nearly killing her.
"We were so worried." Her mother continued to elaborate, the tears still streaming down the elder woman's face. She was sniffling openly, not bothering to conceal it as she gave a watery smile at finding her youngest daughter suddenly responsive. Her father nodded in response and lent forward to smooth the redhead's hair, something he didn't do all that often.
"I'm fine. Awake and fine." The faux cheery tone Lily used somewhat ruined by the crack in her voice as she spoke.
"You suffered quite a shock. Nobody's really sure what happened but you've been through some severe trauma, not to mention magical exhaustion. Anyone weaker than you would've crumbled." This statement suddenly drew attention to the stranger in the room as Lily looked up towards the woman and her slight smile, blinking to try to get a better focus on the mysterious stranger. The voice made her want to sit up straighter just to seem more impressive to her.
"I'm sorry I haven't even introduced myself to you," The woman said giving a slight laugh, "My name's Evelyn."
Mrs Evans broke in before she could finish, "She's been such a help to us. When we got here we had no idea what was going on, no idea at all."
"You know how confused we get by the wizarding fuss and we were in a bit of shock." Her father broke in; frowning at the memory of the frantic visit they received in the middle of the night and the chaos that ensued.
"I can't tell you how much we appreciate that help Evelyn," Lily's mother leaned over the bed to pat the other woman's hand.
"It's been my pleasure June." Evelyn replied, every word sounded utterly honest and sincere.
So many questions ran through Lily's mind as she struggled to take in the scene before her and the events of the few hours before. Evelyn certainly didn't look like a Healer and she certainly wasn't wearing the lime green robes that signified her as one. Lily mused that she could be someone from the ministry, knowing that the incident was surely known to them.
"So," Lily began, "Are you an Auror? Are you investigating what happened?" She struggled to finish the question, not knowing how long ago the party had occurred.
"God no." Evelyn replied, letting a small chuckle leave her lips. "Not that I couldn't be but it was never my thing. Ruling with the mind not force is my motto. Don't let my husband know that, he's head of the Aurors. Anyway no, I'm an impartial consultant for the Ministry and work to campaign for various causes. Don't get me started on them though I could talk for hours, I'm sure your head hurts enough."
Head of the Aurors? Lily felt a dim spark of recognition but couldn't place it in the muddled mess of thoughts her head had become. Everything seemed mixed up and messed around and she couldn't seem to find a way to right them again. Her body and mind just felt drained.
"Her son brought you in and she came in and offered to stay: to help us understand what was going on without the confusing talk of those Auroras or healers."
Lily arched an eyebrow at the mention of a son, turning towards Evelyn in order to scrutinise her more closely. There was something in the movement of the older woman's body, something in the turn of her lips and the twinkle in her eye.
Oh no.
"What was his name Richard?" Lily's mother said, turning towards her husband.
"James." He replied, nodding his head decisively.
"You're Evelyn Potter?" Lily almost spluttered, turning her green eyes away from her mother and towards the blonde woman.
"You caught me!" Evelyn joked, raising her hands in mock surrender. "James' still in the waiting room."
She couldn't believe she hadn't seen it sooner; it was obvious now that she knew the truth. Lily could see where James got that little light in his eyes and the golden flecks in the hazel came straight from her striking eyes.
The room lapsed into a sure round of silence as Lily considered the fact that James was studiously waiting for her just outside, after the fight on the patio as well. After a few seconds of this comfortable silence, as Lily mulled the thoughts through her brain and her mother occasionally squeezing her hand tightly, Evelyn cleared her throat somewhat awkwardly.
"I'm sorry to bring this up…" Evelyn said, her tone sounding regretful but firm. "But I did promise the Aurors and Healers that I would let them know when you woke up. I'm sorry; I know they're probably not what you want to deal with right now." She let her voice trail off but her message was clear.
"No it's fine." Lily said, shaking her head to try clear it slightly. Though she really didn't want to deal with the hovering witches and wizard who were getting set to probe and interrogate her, she appreciated the need to. She also appreciated the fact that Evelyn had let Lily have a while to talk to her parents and sort out her mind before bringing up the impending Ministry investigation.
"I'll just leave you alone for a few minutes while I get them from outside." Evelyn smiled once more and patted the bedspread on last time before manoeuvring her way out of the hospital room.
"We're both so glad you seem to be okay." Lily's mum reiterated as soon as Mrs Potter's figure had disappeared behind the swinging doors. Her father nodded in agreement, a comforting smile set firmly on his lips.
"I'm surprised you managed to tear yourself away from your study." Lily joked, and her father joined in with a deep, throaty chuckle.
Her mum gave a half-hearted laugh but Lily could see her mind was still occupied with a conflicting battle of deep worry and relief.
"What about Petunia?" Noting her elder sister's absence from the room, but before Lily could finish her thought her mother chipped in.
"Oh well it was late dear and she's very busy at the minute what with her typing and Vernon." Her mother fibbed slightly. "I'm sure she'll be round to visit you soon, it is around half past seven in the morning now." They all knew that that was a lie but all chose to just nod and smile and change the subject.
Not long after that two Aurors arrived, with a brisk woman in bright green robes following behind with a stern expression on her pinched face. Lily's parents leant back to allow the three new additions more access.
"If you could step back a bit for a few minutes while we examine your daughter please." The Healer said in a serious tone, her face still stuck in a severe mask.
"It's okay Mum." Lily nodded, trying to make her slightly hoarse voice sound encouraging.
Mr and Mrs Evans dithered slightly but pulled their chairs backwards to allow the officials a better look at their daughter.
"Right, well we'll start with a few simple tests."
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As soon as Evelyn Potter entered the waiting room, after directing the officials into Lily's room, she spotted her son. He was slumped in one of those plastic chairs, half dozing against his hand resting on the uncomfortable seat. She had to resist the urge to laugh at the comical way his long legs were stretched out awkwardly and his arms cramped inside the chair.
As the door closed shut slightly behind her, one of James' eyes cracked open slightly. When he spotted it was his mum stood in the doorway he scrambled up abruptly in an almost inhuman speed, shooting towards her.
"Lily?" He said, his voice urgent and feverish. "Is she awake?"
"Yes." Evelyn replied tentatively, carefully choosing her words.
James' eyes flashed behind his glasses as he took in the news, his mother could practically see the thoughts that whirred around his mind as he changed his line of vision from her towards the door to the corridor and then the hospital room.
"No." She said, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him manoeuvring past her to get towards a door. "She's with her family James. And the Healers and Aurors and all sorts of ministry officials. She's got enough visitors."
For one second his face faltered but he stepped back, rubbing his jaw thoughtfully as looked past his mother towards where he knew Lily lay. "How is she?"
"She's okay." Mrs Potter replied, leading him back towards the uncomfortable plastic chairs. Though it was a wizarding hospital it didn't make the waiting rooms any less unpleasant a place to be spending time in. Depressing waiting rooms are a universal thing.
Placing a quick cushioning charm on the chair Mrs Potter perched herself next to her only son, who now find himself slumped against the chair once more.
"Do you know what happened?" James asked, his voice still fraught and tense.
"Nobody's really sure. She was exhausted magically but other than that everyone's a bit puzzled. Of course they're running tests now and interviewing her so maybe things will become clear." Evelyn mused, stretching her legs out slightly.
They sat in silence for a few minutes, James running his hand repeatedly through his already messed up hair as he replayed what had happened over and over in his mind. "You shouldn't even be here mum." He abruptly said, his voice turning a lot tenderer than before. "You should be resting."
Evelyn stiffened for a second. "I'm fine James," She said a little defensively before softening her tone. "Honestly, today is one of my good days."
He sighed a bit but didn't make a move to challenge her, fighting with Evelyn Potter was futile at best.
"Anyway," She said, in an attempt to lighten the mood. "It's not like I'm far from the hospital if I am feeling a bit woozy." She gestured towards their surroundings.
James only grunted a bit in response but didn't carry on pushing the subject. He had enough to worry about with adding his mum to the list but he really did wish she was more careful.
"You can't talk," She continued, nudging him gently with her elbow. "When was the last time you slept? You've been here all night."
"I've dozed on and off." He shrugged, not bothering to point out that he was in perfectly good health. Besides, sleep wasn't the thing first and foremost on his mind; he doubted that if he was in the most comfortable and luxurious bed he would be able to sleep. Too many thoughts whirled around his brain.
"You really should rest James." His mum insisted, carrying on elbowing him to get his attention. He raised an eyebrow at her but otherwise didn't respond. "Okay okay I get it, I can't talk."
"Exactly." James muttered under his breath, running another hand through his black hair.
"I'm your mum James. I can fuss over you but you can't fuss over me."
"Hmmph." He sighed but admitted defeat. "I'll go get us some coffee, just make sure you call me if we're allowed in."
Evelyn Potter watched in silence as her son wandered off into the corridors of the hospital and felt a tightening in her heart that had everything to do with the boy walking away from her. Each day the darkness grew a little more ominous and now James was being sucked into it. Every fibre of her being wanted to protect him instead of the other way around. She could see in his head that he believed he had to look after her. She wasn't so weak yet that she couldn't worry over her only child. She knew if a war did come James would want to be on the front line but to her he was still that little boy she loved.
When James arrived back with the two cups of lukewarm coffee it was to find his mother lost in deep thought still in the same position he left her in.
"Here," He said as he approached, reaching out to pass her the drink. She smiled in thanks and touched him half-heartedly on the arm.
He slumped once again in the chair and blew on the steam from the cup, watching it float upwards in spirals as he mulled over his thoughts.
"Are you okay James?" Mrs Potter asked, peering over the rim of her cup at him. She started again before he could interject. "I mean really James, you went through a lot."
"I'm fine." He replied, his face set in a stoic mask. "Honestly, it's just..." He paused for a moment to try to phrase the churning feeling he'd felt in his gut ever since Lily had stepped forward to be taken.
"It seems too real now. Too close." He said finally after a few seconds of silence. Evelyn Potter sighed sympathetically and ran a hand through his hair in a comforting gesture, something James would only ever allow his mum to do.
"I understand James," Mrs Potter continued, "And with your father away so often."
"I know mum." He said, and an unspoken agreement ran through them as he patted her hand.
She looked upwards towards the mottled grey ceiling of the hospital wing and squeezed her son's hand tightly. Thinking of all the times she protected him and all the times in the future she wouldn't be around to do so.
"You've got that look in your eye." James said after a while.
She turned her head towards him and smiled slightly, "What look?"
"That melancholy look you get sometimes." He said, scrutinising her expression.
"Yeah well, you get it sometimes too. The broody look when you toss that snitch in the air." She retorted, trying to lighten the mood.
"Ah but I get that from you." He pointed out, the ghost of his familiar crooked grin etched on his face.
"Touché." Evelyn replied chuckling to herself. "You've always got a reply for everything."
The irony was that he didn't have a chance to respond to that latest comment as the door swung open revealing a horde of Healers and ministry officials who were all muttering to themselves and each other under their breath. James caught all a few snatches of conversation.
"Interesting but..."
"Horrifying."
"Can we be sure she's not lying?"
The last statement came from a middle aged Auror with a face that looked stuck in a permanent state of disgust as he scurried along past James and his mum. James' fists clenched as he walked by and his jaw tensed in vexation.
"James," Evelyn prompted gently, tapping him lightly on the back. "You can go in to see her now."
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Lily felt like some kind of animal at the zoo as the people prodded, poked and stared at her like she was a particular interesting specimen. She could have been a mystery to solve the way they were staring at her: all furrowed brows and crumpled frowns.
Various tests had been run and the waving of wands had been enough to make her dizzy, they were over now though. The mediwitch had retreated into the corner with a contemplative look on her face as she examined the results. Somehow this wasn't particularly comforting to Lily.
"Now," Said one of the Aurors in a sickly sweet voice that was cloying to Lily's ears. "Tell me what the last thing you remember is?"
Lily closed her eyes and let the last memory wash over her, the only noise she heard was a quill perched against the soft parchment of the neighbour official. There was light. Gold and bright and blinding: with no ending or beginning. It consumed everything until the world was no longer multi-faceted but one blank face that shone in the darkness. Lily was just a speck bobbing along in the current of molten gold that surrounded her as pain flashed and the world turned black.
Somehow this sounded a bit too fanciful to go down in an official Aurors' report.
"I..." She stuttered for a second to right her thoughts with the penetrating stares she was receiving. "I saw the girl. Violet, she was trying to tell me something. But it flared gold. And then all I could see was gold before I blacked out."
Everyone looked at each other and made vague agreeing noises before someone scribbled something down on the parchment in front of them. Lily waited awkwardly for them to continue but they just carried on scrutinising her like she was a problem they were desperate to solve.
"Then I woke up here," She prompted.
"Hmmm." The woman who originally asked the question said, but before she could continue in that nauseating false simper a tall man interrupted.
"What do you mean she was about to tell you something? You mean her or who controlled her? Or was she being controlled at all?" The man demanded in a tone almost like a sneer, his face was contorted as if Lily was something horrendous on the bottom of his shoe. Or something more abominable like a cockroach he spied crawling through the wood work. Lily couldn't decide which was worse: the faux sympathetic drawl or the thinly-veiled repulsion.
"Well," Lily continued feeling slightly on guard. "She seemed to be in some sort of trance, referring to herself as disgusting as if she was simply the puppet. But occasionally she would seem to snap out of it as her eyes glowed golden and she was speaking normal. It happened once, maybe twice. But the last time..."
Lily broke off with a little catch in her throat but forged onwards. "The last time she told me she had to tell me their plans. She could see them all inside her head. They killed her before she got the chance. They killed her before she could tell me anything." Her voice hardened at the end as her mouth twisted downwards as the reality of what these monsters had done hit her.
"How?" He broke in quickly, looking as if every word out of Lily's mouth was doubtful at best.
"I don't know." She faltered, struggling to think back to that exact moment.
"How can you not know?" He asked incredulously.
"I..." She tried to continue.
"Well! Was there someone with a wand? A spell? Something else?" His voice was hard and urgent.
"No. There was no one else in the room I'm sure. It wasn't like anything I've ever seen before, like no spell in existence. She simply disintegrated into gold light from the inside and out."
"Well girl," He said, using the term girl like it was a derogatory. "I don't quite know how you expected us to believe that. When we collected the body I assure you it was intact."
The way he used the word body, as if it hadn't once been human sent shivers up Lily's spine.
"I don't mean literally. I mean the light seemed to come from within her, her eyes glowed so gold and it was as if her inside was being dissolved into pure gold which escaped into the room. In fact..."
She paused for a moment, a few key details seeping back into a mind. "A bracelet. She was wearing this golden cuff on her arm. It glowed whenever her eyes flashed as if it was controlling it. I remember it when she died, burning that bright light."
"What bracelet?" The angry Auror snapped, "We didn't find any bracelet?"
There was a faint murmuring throughout the crowd that surrounded them that spread it ripples as the officials shifted uncomfortably.
"I remember." She said, sounding much more confident there before. "There was definitely a bracelet."
"Right." He said dismissively, leaning over to whisper something into the other Aurors' ear.
Lily felt herself bristle at the treatment she was receiving. She raised her head and looked him over with a look mirroring his disgust. "Though you seem happy to take your gut instinct over the words of the only witness I suggest you listen to me. Although I can see how you might want to undermine the voice of such a headstrong muggleborn witch, nay girl, like me."
He glared at her but said no more as he turned to read the notes of the interview over the shoulder of the man beside him.
The interview continued in much the same vein. Pointed stares and repetitive questions with doubt sketched onto everyone's faces. It was clear that the officials were having a little trouble with Lily's version of events: either they didn't want to accept the dark truth or didn't want to trust a mudblood.
"Now walks us through that night again," The middle-aged Auror she now knew to be called Mr Shafiq, repeated for the billionth time.
"I initially didn't want to go to the party," Lily began again, tiring of parroting off the same answers and receiving the same looks over and over.
"Why was that?" He bit in quickly, suspicion etched on his face.
"I don't know, it didn't really seem like my thing but my friends were bored so I eventually gave in."
"Hmm," Shafiq muttered under his breath, scribbling something down on his parchment.
"And it was just like a normal party." She shrugged beneath the blankets covering her body. "People dancing and having fun."
"Anything suspicious that you remember dear?" The female Auror said condescendingly, quill poised in position. "No detail is too small dear."
"Nothing." Lily replied frustratedly. "I had fun with my friends, I saw people I hadn't seen for a while. It was normal. I mean I got locked out for a bit but that was only because I shut the door and it locked behind us. It wasn't suspicious it was just stupid."
"Locked out?" The man pounced on her words. "You didn't mention this before? Is there anything else you haven't mentioned?"
His face was innocent but she could hear ever unspoken accusation in the spiteful tone of his voice. She glared defiantly at him.
"It was only for a few minutes, nothing happened. It was my own fault because I didn't realise the door automatically locked, I didn't say anything because there was nothing to say."
"Listen here girl," Mr Shafiq said, "It is the Aurors that decide if there is anything to say and if I, erm I mean we, discover that you have been hiding anything…"
"Enough is enough!" The sour-faced healer interrupted, reappearing from her studies to glare fiercely at the stout Auror in front of her. "I hardly see how this is relevant to the case and besides my patient needs rest!"
Her voice was sharp and firm; she was the kind of person who disobeying was very rarely an option. Lily decided right there and then that she liked this healer: no matter how grumpy she'd first appeared.
"You might not see how it's relevant but the real experts here do." He replied, standing up to tower imposingly over the lean healer. His expression was furious and it was clear he was not used to having his authority questioned.
"You can come back tomorrow if you find some relevant questions." The healer said, staring him straight in the face. "This is clearly detrimental to my patient's health, she is exhausted and needs to rest. You don't want me filing an official complaint about the Auror's mishandling of this poor victim and interference with her wellbeing?"
Shafiq looked as if he was about to hit the woman, in fact he took a step towards her as his fist clenched by the side of his leg. The healer continued to look calmly at him: her eyes never once leaving his as if she was daring him to swing for her.
"Come on Omar," A younger Auror sprang briskly to his feet. "We need to compile our notes anyway."
It took a few tugs on the beefy Auror's arm before he loosened his position and stepped back, his glower fiercer than ever. With one more pointed look at Lily, and an assurance that they would be carrying on investigating, he had swept out of the room with no more of a backwards glance to the assorted people scurrying on behind him.
Lily let out a sigh of relief as the last of them hurried out of the room and into the corridor beyond. Leaving her alone with the remaining healer who'd stared down the Auror and her mother and father in deep conversation in the corner of the room. The door came to a sudden bang shut that echoed round the hospital room. She winced, the pain reverberating in her skull and sending fresh waves of pain throughout her body.
"Is everything alright?" The only healer left in the room, the woman who had stared down the Auror, responded after noting Lily's reaction.
"Yeah, it just feels like everything I am is hurting. Aching."
"I'm not surprised," The woman sniffed, but it was without nastiness or spite. "You've had quite the night.
Lily snorted, for the first time since the accident. "Yeah, you could say that."
"Listen," The healer said quickly, "Ignore them: that man. I'm a muggleborn myself and it makes me sick when they come in here acting all high and mighty because of their blood. They'd be acting differently if they needed my help that's for sure."
Lily cracked a grin for what felt like the first time in weeks, though it must only have been hours, this woman was certainly someone she would be glad to have on her side.
The healer gave the smallest of smiles before her voice returned back to its stern ways and she muttered something about analysing results before scurrying off to her adjoining office. As that door shut her parents looked up to discover the swarming crowds had suddenly gone.
"Listen Lily dear," Her mother said as she got up to approach the table.
"Yes mum?" Lily replied absentmindedly, her thoughts still on the interviews that had just took place.
"Me and your father…" She stuttered, her eyes still watery with unshed tears. "It's just that, hmmm. Well, we sort of have to go."
"Oh." Lily looked a bit taken aback, "Right then."
"We don't want to!" Her mum rushed out to assure her, her hands shaking as she clutched one of Lily's in her own. "Only we promised Tuney that we'd be there. She's bringing Vernon round for lunch and it's the first time we've properly met him. And we told her, when we found out, that it would have to be cancelled but… but…"
Lily got the gist before her mum had even finished explain. It was obvious that when her mum had tried to explain to Petunia that she was in hospital that Petunia had thrown a hissy fit over some stupid lunch. Clearly concern for her freak of a sister was not Tuney's number one priority, in fact it was probably so low on the agenda that it didn't even cross her mind.
"If you'd have been any worse," Her mother hastened to reassure her. "We wouldn't even dream of going but nothing appears to be changing and well Petunia did say she would never forgive us if we weren't there."
What a surprise.
Lily nodded, "Of course, yes. You have to go I understand. Don't be upset mum I'm fine honest."
"I wouldn't go either if I didn't know that your friend is in the waiting room so you won't be alone." Mrs Evans reassured her.
With a few more words of assurance Mr and Mrs Evans were heading reluctantly towards the door with heavy hearts and heavy feet. A brush with death was almost more preferable than lunch with Vernon the whale as far as Lily was concerned.
"Oh, and Lily?" June Evans stopped just before she reached the door. "I wouldn't leave your friend waiting for too long."
With a short giggle and a little wave Mrs Evans and her husband were gone .Leaving behind a confused and groggy Lily to stare at their retreat and wonder what in Merlin's name her mother was talking about.
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James stood nervously at the doorway, shifting from foot to foot as he wondered whether or not to knock. One hand was poised over in the shape of a fist whilst the other was ruffling his already messy hair in an anxious gesture. Finally he cursed at himself, James Potter did not second guess himself, and pushed open the door.
Lily was gazing into space as James entered, her eyes dreamy and unfocused as she absentmindedly rubbed her wrist where the girl had gripped her tight and burned into gold.
"Does it hurt?" James whispered croakily, suddenly finding he'd lost the ability to speak at a normal volume or in a normal tone.
Lily looked up startled to find the person she least expected as her hand clenched around her wrists as if she was trying to hide it from view.
"No. It's fine. I'm fine." Her hand still lay possessively over the injury as she shot him a puzzled look.
"Let me see," He said as he approached the bed, his footsteps cautious as if Lily was a particularly temperamental beast and one false step could cause her to explode into a fit of rage. Which, given past experiences, could have happened.
"Right, because you're clearly an excellent healer." She retorted sarcastically, but contrary to her words she did loosen her iron grip.
He rolled his eyes but ignored her as he reached out to cradle her reluctant wrist in his hands; she relented with a small huff but said no more. Where the girl, Violet, had touched her lay a puckered pink scar. Not as harsh as an angry red but still startling against the creamy colour of Lily's pale skin. Normally unblemished but now marked with the evidence of the ordeal of the previous night.
James pushed his glasses up as he bent down further to examine the thin scar. Lily scanned his face as he scanned her wrist: both searching for answers that couldn't be found in an expanse of skin or a blank facial expression. One that could only be found after talking things through and asking probing questions which was something neither of the teens were prepared to do.
"Potter," She said in a slightly exasperated tone, but she just couldn't conjure up any real annoyance when she knew he was simply trying to help. "It's fine."
"Course it is." He flashed a pale comparison of his normal crooked grin. "That's why you're stuck in this hospital bed."
"Shut it Potter." She said, wrenching herself from his grasp.
"Honestly though," James said, his lightly teasing tone suddenly turning more serious than either of them were used to. James and Lily didn't tend to have serious conversations, just loud and angry ones. "Are you okay?"
"I've been better." She admitted, looking around at the dismal hospital room, granted it was nice for normal standards but nothing could be done about the sense of despair that often clings to hospitals and their inhabitants.
"Listen Potter," She interrupted before he could say the words forming on his lips. "I just want to say, well, thanks."
"For what?" He replied, looking genuinely perplexed at her gratitude.
If James wanted to act like that then fine she would play along: but she knew what really happened. Her mother had told her what she learned from Evelyn Potter and she'd also received a more formal account from the group of stuffy Aurors. From there she pieced together what seemed like a rather accurate picture of events.
{}
Once Violet had begun to die as the golden light shone out of her like it was leeching the very life force from her body. Lily had screamed until it felt like her lungs with burning along with the stranger as she reached out towards her before collapsing to the ground completely unconscious. Here her recollection ended and the story she'd been told began. James had heard the scream and seen the bright light just as the idea to call a house elf had formed. Without even thinking about the threats that had been issued James catapulted through the terrified crowd to reach the door behind which Lily lay. He's used pure bodily strength to force the door open, the spells apparently lifted with the girl's demise though James hadn't known that, and rush to Lily's side. When he'd first seen the redhead, her limbs tossed haphazardly and her skin as pale as the image of a ghost, he'd truly believed she was dead.
And it had hurt. Hurt more than he'd thought was possible. It was like all the strings in his body had snapped at once as the world around him started to shift and turn beneath him. Because it couldn't be possible: it just couldn't. Lily Evans was untouchable, unbreakable and infallible. Except she wasn't. She was quite clearly broken on the ground and James wasn't quite sure how it happened but suddenly he was kneeling on the floor right next to her fumbling desperately for a pulse.
It was there but it was faint.
James let out every expletive known under the sun and some he made up on the spot because of the sheer relief of it. He scooped her up in his arms as if she weighed nothing at all and she splayed out in his arms like a ragdoll.
"Sirius." James had screeched with his voice rough and thick with unexpressed emotion.
His friend had arrived quickly, pushing apart the thick crowd to enter the room. It was as if a spell had been broken and the pained silence was replaced by a panicked chattering. James gave only a nod of his head to indicate and his best friend got it, quickly Sirius was kneeling besides Violet.
"James?" Sirius had said, his voice breaking. "I can't find a pulse James. I think-I – think... She's dead. Is Lily?"
He couldn't even bring himself to finish the question.
"It's there but it's faint." James had replied, "The house-elf?"
"Someone else is calling one right now."
"Right," James had adjusted his grip of Lily, "Tell them to send her right to the ministry. I'm apparating to St Mungos."
Without waiting to hear the words of protest forming on Sirius' lips he had pulled Lily closer and turned. This was the first time James had apparated. He'd practised the theory at home and had even tried to apart into a hoop with his father's permission. It'd worked quite well but it was the extent his dad would let him test his abilities. It was highly illegal to even try to apparate into the hoop. But here he was, apparating straight to St Mungos carrying another person no less.
He had arrived in one piece: just. Nearly overbalancing as he landed and shocking the entire waiting room of St Mungos.
But they'd been okay.
{}
"You saved my life, Pot- James." Her voice tripping over the last word, it felt strange and foreign coming out of her mouth like that. But you should really be on first name basis with the person that saved your life.
"I didn't it wasn't like that." He scoffed, shifting uncomfortably in the cold, hard plastic of the seat he had settled himself into.
"It was." She said, so softly and matter-of-factly that it was utterly impossible for him to argue. It was so unusual for them both: to be talking civilly with each other. Yet this situation was different. It was more than just them, more than just petty school arguments and stupid pranks, this was the real world and it was a world where James had saved her life and she didn't know what to do with that fact. "So just don't even try."
"Okay," He muttered under his breath though he didn't believe a thing she said.
They sat in silence for a while. The only sound the occasional noise from outside the corridor and the sound of them breathing but for once it wasn't an awkward silence between them. There was a certain tension beneath the surface but a calm as well. A contemplative calm.
"Everything's different now." Lily said after a few seconds, still absentmindedly rubbing her hand against her wrist.
"I know." He replied gruffly, in a voice that Lily had never heard him use before. It was the first time that they had really been themselves with each other: tragedy so often has a way of stripping away a person to their bare bones. "Everything's changed."
"Maybe it's not changed," She mused, her eyes staring off into the distance as everything that had happened to her seemed to rise and swirl inside her. "Maybe we just know more about it. Before it was just an abstract concept, but now…"
"It's real." James finished for her; it was the exact same thing he had thought before. The exact same thing so many of their friends must have been thinking at that moment, so many people at that party who had seen the horror stories in The Daily Prophet but never really thought that it would have happened to them and their friends. None of them expected a thing.
"Yeah." She whispered with her eyes soft and unfocused.
The silence enveloped them both again.
Suddenly something occurred to Lily.
"I don't mean to be offensive, but where is everyone else?" Lily said, breaking her gaze into the distance to turn to face him.
"Oh crap," He exclaimed, scrambling up and out of his seat quicker than Lily could blink. "I am so sorry. Oh shit, I just completely forgot it's been such a mess I mean you were unconscious and we didn't know if you were going to wake up and…"
"Wow, Wow." Lily said, her eyes widening in surprise as she watched him panicking. "Just calm down and tell me what in Merlin's name you are babbling on about."
"I need to floo Marlene, Alice and Sirius and everyone are there waiting for news I'll go tell them that you woke up." He didn't even give her the chance to reply as he pushed himself out of the room and disappeared leaving the door swinging in his wake.
{}
A few hours earlier.
Marlene meandered down the stair case, just hoping that she would avoid bumping into Analeigh's mum on her way to the living room. It was pointless to go home she decided when she checked the clock. She had told her mum that she was sleeping over at Lily's so that she didn't worry but now that felt like entirely too much effort. In her sleep deprived and slight tipsy mind it made a lot more sense to just curl up on the sofa in Analeigh's living room and have a little nap. After all, she deserved it after dragging a half unconscious teenage girl to bed.
She would just take a little rest on the couch, and within seconds of her lying down her eyes were glued shut and she was drifting off to sleep.
Still a few hours earlier but not quite as long ago.
Marlene's eyes flew open as she heard a huge crash issue from the corner of the room. She shot up, the blanket that had somehow appeared during the night now slipping off of her as she tried to rub the sleep from her eyes. Her eyesight was blearily but she could clearly make out Alice, soot covered with on odd and hard emotion on her face.
Suddenly Marlene didn't care that her head was throbbing steadily or that she was still half asleep, she could feel something off with Alice.
"What is it? What's the matter?" Marlene asked urgently, shaking off the final layers of sleep that still clung to her.
"Marlene," She said, her voice strange in the oppressive silence of the house. "It's Lily…"
And that's when she began to cry.
Two hours before James' arrival.
It was a nightmare. The whole room felt like they were living some kind of dream because it could not possibly be real. There was no way. Alice and Marlene were now sat on the couch together and the silence in the room was almost a physical. Alice had tear tracks on her face and every so often a tear would escape her eyes and she clenched and unclenched her hand against the sofa. Marlene tried to rub soothing circles into her back but she felt like she was barely keeping it together herself. Somehow she could detach herself from it, make it seem like it was someone in a film experiencing this because if she didn't she would lose it all together.
Analeigh still slept oblivious upstairs: they didn't know if they should wake her not. It was hard because all they would wake her to do would be to sit with them in silence while they waited for news that they desperately prayed would be good. It was pointless, they had decided, it was better just to let her sleep it off and wake her when they found out anything new.
There is a certain kind of desperation to sitting in the dark in the earlier hours of the morning with a friend sobbing into your side not knowing if the people that you love in the world are dead or alive. It is something only known to the people who experience these dark times and those who don't must hope that they are lucky enough not to experience it.
Certainly the teenagers sat in the cold darkness of that living room wished that they weren't experiencing it or would never experience it again. Unfortunately, the path they were on led them towards more waiting in silent rooms with the heavy knowledge that the news of death could be just around the corner.
It was a while that they sat in silence before the flames flared green before their eyes. At first Marlene thought she had imagined it out of sheer desperation but that was soon put to rest when the large figure of Sirius Black came tumbling out of the fireplace in front of them. Alice had always thought it was such a cliché when people said that their hearts stopped. But then she would have taken everything back because it felt for all the world that blood was no longer being pumped around her body as she waited for him to speak.
"She's alive." He choked out before he had even really come to a halt and it was like the whole room woke up.
"Oh thank Merlin." Marlene whispered, not even realising that she had been holding her breath until it came back in one big whoosh.
"She's alive." Alice repeated, testing the words out like she couldn't quite believe the truth. "She's alive."
"I want to go see her." Marlene said, stepping toward Sirius and the only exit route they had.
He shook his head slightly and regretfully, it was the only time in Marlene's life that she ever recalled him looking any less than calm, collected and completely unruffled. At the minute the only word that came to mind was mess, she knew that him and Lily didn't really have the best relationship but it was never the same as James. There was always a little friendly banter between them and it seemed that the incident only seemed to show how much everyone depended on Lily without even realising it.
"We can't." He sighed, scratching the nape of his nape just for something to do with his hands. "James is there with his mum and her parents showing them what is happening and everything. I mean she still hasn't woken up and no one is entirely sure what has happened. And the other girl, she, she died."
There was a sharp intake of breathe at that from the two girls.
Dead. The unknown girl died. But still they couldn't help but have every thought tinged with relief that it hadn't been Lily that had died alongside her.
"We just have to wait it out." Sirius continued, but anyone could see from the twitch of his eye and the nervous tapping of his hands that was the last thing he wanted to do. Every inch of him longed to be doing something useful: to be helping Lily or tracking down the idiots who did this to her or just doing something instead of wallowing and waiting. Waiting had never been his strongest skill.
"Yeah, wait it out."
{}
The present.
James was in such a rush to make up for not telling everyone sooner that he nearly gave them a heart attack when he came careering out of the fireplace into the Urquhart's living room scattering ash everywhere. From the wild eyes look on his face everyone was sure that the verdict must have been bad. That Lily was impossibly damaged by whatever the hell had happened to her and would never wake up or recover again. It must have been something so horrendous to make James burst in like that.
But instead, in typical fashion, he was just being a tad dramatic.
"She's awake." He cried out as soon as the room stopped spinning. And then for the first time he let it sink in what they all could have lost and what they didn't lose; he couldn't help but laugh in relief. "She's awake."