Chapter 11: Answers
A few days past since Lily sent a letter to her 'parents' and still no reply. It was now Thursday and she was getting anxious. She wanted answers and she wasn't getting them sitting around and waiting for a letter that probably won't come. She seemed to be getting uneasy and James was starting to worry, she was always on the edge of her seat every morning when the mail arrived. When nothing came she was disappointed and quiet for the rest of the day thinking. Everyone was trying to help take her mind off things but it wasn't working.
One day Sirius was so fed up that in the middle of the common room he stood up, while everyone was doing homework and studying, and started pacing.
"Ok, I have thought about it and after many sleepless nights I have come to a conclusion, which is the only way to solve the problem." he started gathering everyone's attention.
"OMG, he was thinking" Claire said in a slightly frantic voice. Everyone giggled, besides Lily, but when they noticed that he was really, well serious, they stopped.
"Ok, what is it?" Remus asked becoming very curious as to what caused Sirius to think, for once in his life.
"Well, everyone knows that lily has been down lately, so, I am going to go to Dumbledore and ask if we can go home early and get some answers." He said walking out of the common room, only to be stopped by Claire.
"Not this again. You guys can't go there. I won't let you. It is too dangerous and there has to be another way to find some answers." Claire told.
"I don't see any other way to solve this problem. I'm sure that Lily has been thinking the same thing and as if I am going to let her go anywhere by herself" Sirius pointed out.
During this whole time Lily had been silent, fighting an inner battle. Not knowing what to do. If she went to Grimland Place and they are not her parents she will be in more danger than she already is. If they are her real parents then things will be worse, because she doubted them, and that is something she knew they didn't like.
Everyone finally noticed that Lily was the only one that hadn't said anything.
"Lily, what do you want to do?" James asked. The decision was totally in her hands, and she couldn't just wait around like this. It was killing her inside. "Well I might as well find out the information I need in person" she thought.
"Ok, let's do it." She said looking across to Sirius who now had Claire fully attached to his arm. He hugged her reassuring her everything will be ok.
"Are you guys really sure you want to do this?" Remus asked. He knew that once an idea was in Sirius' head it was stuck there until it was used, and you couldn't convince him otherwise.
"Positive. Don't you trust me?" Sirius asked with the smallest hint of amusement in his voice. James was about to answer when Sirius said.
"It was rhetorical question"
"Ok, well if you are sure then just be careful." Ella said getting up and hugging both of them. Once everyone said goodbye Lily and Sirius went up to the Headmaster's office.
They convinced him to allow them to go for a few days, but not too long to interrupt their classes. They weren't planning on staying long so they only took another change of clothes with them.
Once at the Black residence they stepped out of the fireplace and brushed the soot off their clothing. They weren't exactly greeted in the best way but after many years they were use to the unfriendliness.
"What are you doing here?" Mrs. Black spat at the tow standing in front of her.
"Nice to see you too" Sirius said moving right passed her and travelling up the stairs to an empty room. Seeing as Sirius and Lily were a 'disgrace to the Black family' they didn't receive much. Their room was very dirty and dusty. In the middle of the floor was a single, dirty and very thin mattress. In the corner of the room was a single wooden chair sitting by a window. There was a chest of draws for clothes but it was very big.
"Ahh, home, sweet, home" Sirius said his voice dripping with sarcasm.
"To think we left the lovely, luxurious Head Quarters for this" Lily said putting her bag down and looking around the room.
"Well, we won't be here for long anyway." He replied but turned his attention elsewhere as the door opened and in walked Mr. and Mrs. Black, behind their five other sons.
They stood before he twins with smirks on their faces and hands on their hips.
"We received your letter" Mr. Black said simply looking at Lily. She stood out in the room the most because of her red hair falling down her back.
"So, what is the answer?" she asked feeling nervous but she didn't let them know what was happening inside her. They all smiled at her and her stomach tied in knots. Sirius moved closer with clenched fists.
"You are right. Now is there anything else you wish to know, before we kill you?" Mrs. Black stated getting impatient.
"I want to know everything from the very beginning" Lily said as she now realized she was right all along. She was standing shoulder to shoulder with Sirius and she could feel his muscles tighten. She nudged him slightly, trying to calm him.
"You can't handle the truth" Mrs. Black told.
"Try me"
"We will tell you but no in here. It is a very long story" Mr. Black said leaving the room to be followed by everyone except Lily and Sirius. When it was only they were left in the room a small tear ran down Lily's face and Sirius pulled her into a warm comforting hug.
"Lets just get this over with" Sirius said "Then we can go back to our real home" he added referring to Hogwarts.
They walked down stairs to see the family waiting for them. They sat on the floor and waited for everything to be revealed. Mr. Black started:
"Well, seventeen years ago. My wife gave birth to a baby boy. A few weeks prior to his birth I was given orders by my Lord. He told me that another baby will be born on the same day and will have very special magical abilities. There was a prophecy. This prophecy told that the baby will play a large role in his life." He paused to look at Lily.
"How so?" she asked with her brows furrowed.
"What did the prophecy say?" Sirius added before Mr. Black continued.
"This prophecy was important. The baby to be born in the same hospital, on the same day of the same month, will have muggle parents and will lead to the downfall of my Lord. He set me a task. He told me that I am to take this baby and bring it up as one of my own and teach it where its real loyalties lie."
"So, in other words, you kidnapped me from my real parents in the hospital to bring me up to be evil and follow in your footsteps. That way I wouldn't be a threat to him becoming more powerful than ever." Lily said looking at the people sitting in front of her with disgust.
"When you were growing up, the both of you were abnormal and didn't follow in the ways we told you. On your tenth birthday the Dark Lord came to us when you were sleeping and told us to keep trying, and if we fail be were to kill you both. Mostly Lily and the person that will also play a large role in it as well" Mrs Black continued.
"Who might that be?" Lily and Sirius asked at the same time.
"James Potter" one of their brothers answered finally talking for the first time.
"What does James have anything to do with it?" Lily questioned.
"STOP INTERUPTING" Mrs. Black yelled
"Then a few weeks ago the dark lord came to us again and told us that Evans were trying to find their missing daughter and knew about the child's magical ability. So we killed them." Mrs. Black finished.
"What does James have anything to do with it?" Lily repeated but they didn't answer. Sirius was sitting silently taking in all the information that was just exposed.
"Now you know everything, so prepare to die." Mrs. Black said pulling out her wand. They were off the floor in an instant and looking at them to see if they were serious.
"Huh?" Sirius questioned.
"You didn't think we were just going to tell you and let you leave? How foolish." Mrs. Black laughed at the two in front of her.
"You see, if we let you go then you can report us to the Ministry of Magic and then we would be suspects," Mr. Black added.
"Well it is your fault for getting involved with Voldemort, so you can suffer" Sirius commented as every face in the room change to anger and hostility.
"How dare you? You are not worthy to say his name. You aren't even worthy to think it! I will not allow you to get away with this" Mrs. Black said before she fired a spell towards the two but they moved and it just missed the both of them.
Lily and Sirius ran upstairs into their room and locked their door witch many spells that Sirius invented while being a Marauder. They heard footsteps coming closer and they were trying to think of a way to get out of there. The footsteps stopped and faded down the hall. Lily and Sirius pressed themselves up against the door trying to listen, but it was silent. They were now very confused.
They sat in the room for five minutes, settling themselves before they try to leave. The only problem was that they needed to Floo back and the fireplace was downstairs. Getting passed the Blacks was another problem.
"Sirius, do you hear that?" Lily asked as they stood in silence they could hear a large number of popping sounds coming from the living room. Sirius had an idea of what might be happening downstairs, but he was hoping he was wrong.
"Yeah, it sounds like people are apparating here." He told as they exchanged glances.
"Crap, could this day get any worse?" Lily said resting her head on Sirius shoulder who was deep in thought.
"You know that we have to get out of here right and the only to do that is id we go down there." He said rubbing her back as he picked up their small bag.
"Let's just go back to Hogwarts" she added before she opened the door and they walked down the hall as quietly as they could. They continued making their way downstairs and when they got to the foot of the stairs, they peaked around the corner. They saw exactly what they were hoping they wouldn't. In the living room were a large number of people standing in a circle dressed in black cloaks, with hoods covering their faces. In the middle of the circle was one person dressed the same. In the middle of the room was Voldemort.
As he spoke to the people surrounding him his evil, cold voice sent chills up Lily and Sirius' spine. "I have another task for you and this is very important. But first tell me WHY ARE THEY STILL ALIVE? AND EVASDROPPING?" he yelled at the Blacks and everyone in the circle flinched. He turned around and looked Lily straight in the eye. His evil, piercing, beady red eyes were staring at her, and she felt like he could read her like a book. His mouth twisted into an evil grin that made him look even more scary and threatening.
"So nice of you to drop by" he said moving the stare towards Sirius and looking him up and down for a moment or too.
"Yeah, well we are leaving and no one can stop us" Sirius told trying to be brave and confident even though he was looking at the most dangerous wizard known in the wizarding world and some parts of the muggle world.
"You don't really believe that, do you foolish boy?" the Dark Lord in a teasing manner. He gave out a hearty laugh and his death Eaters soon followed.
"Sorry we bothered you but we need to go" Lily said as she and Sirius made their way over to the fireplace only to be stopped by a few death eaters and thrown into the middle of the circle as well.
"I have reason to believe that you to know very important information, and I can't have you go running off and telling that foolish old wizard you call Headmaster now can I? So the choice I have is to kill you, although I don't really mind. I am sure that your parents don't either?" Voldemort said as he looked in the direction of the blacks who stood with their head bowed.
"Do as you wish, my Lord" Mrs. Black announced.
Lily and Sirius just stood there while they had to listen to snake-like person, if that is what you want to call him, rambling on. When he finished there was a silent break. Lily not wanting to stay in the place more than necessary pulled out her wand as fast as she could and sent to first spell she could think of, soaring towards the man who represented pure evil.
They watched as he deflected it with ease. It was only then that Sirius pulled out his wand as well. "Is that all? To think that you are the supposed one that will cause my downfall yet you can't even hit me with a small spell."
"Let me show you how it is done" he said. Before lily had time to process what was happening she was lying on the floor. Her whole body was aching, like the feeling of hot knives stabbing her repeatedly. She was shaking and so badly wanted to scream but she didn't want to give Voldemort the satisfaction of knowing he hurt her.
"Leave her alone" Sirius yelled sending a spell towards his direction. It was only then that he lifted the curse. Lily took a deep shaky breathe and stood up slowly.
"Lily, are you okay?" Sirius whispered out the corner of his mouth.
"Yeah, I'm fine" she answered in the same way.
"The only way out of here is if we run, so just send curses in every direction and go back to Hogwarts" he whispered again.
"What about…." Lily started but was cut off.
"NO TALKING!"
"One… two… THREE!" Sirius yelled. They both started firing curses in all directions and hoped they would hit someone or something. In return curses were coming from the death eaters and a very angry and annoyed Voldemort.
The fighting continued until Lily and Sirius were close enough to the fireplace. They dived in at the same time and yelled "Dumbledore's Office" and with a whirl of green flames they were gone.
-- --
"I'm bored" Claire said as she sat on one of the comfy chair in front of the fireplace back at Head Quarters.
"Well, find something to do" Ella said as she snuggled closer to Remus who was currently resting on the chair with Ella practically on top of him. "I think she is cold" he thought to himself.
"Yeah, easy for you to say. You still have your boyfriend, mine is probably duelling his parents right now." Claire said with a hint to sadness in her voice.
"Oh well guys, I guess we will just have to wait for them to come back. Now let's go to dinner." James said getting up and the four walked down to the Great Hall. On the way a little boy names Adin brought them a note from Dumbledore saying he wanted to meet with them after dinner. Curious as they were they ate they dinner in a hurry and made their way to the Headmaster's Office.
"Chocolate Frogs" they said as they went up the staircase and knocked on the door.
"Enter"
They filed in and took a seat in a in the chairs that were ready and waiting for them. They looked up to see their very pale and tired looking Headmaster.
"You wanted to see us Sir?" James asked first, getting straight t the point.
"Yes, now Mr. Black and Lily have gone back to their parents place, as you know. I am informing you that they won't be there long, in fact they should be back soon, five minutes time, I would say, but that is if things go well over there." He said looking at each student occasionally.
"I thought I should invite you to come and stay with me in my office and wait for their arrival, seeing as you are their closest friends, but if you have other things to do than by all means go, and I will inform them of your location." At these words all four of them yelled "NO"
"What we mean Professor is that we would rather wait here for their arrival, just so we know that they are okay." Remus said on behalf of the others who nodded as he spoke.
"Very well. Make yourselves at home while we wait" he said as they shifted in their seats nervously. James stood up and gestured for the others to do the same. He pulled out his wand and transfigured each of the chairs into a chair similar to the ones at Head Quarters. They were red and had pillows with a print of a lion on it.
"Well done, Mr. Potter." Professor Dumbledore said with that special twinkle in his eye showing again.
"Thank you Professor" James said blushing slightly.
"Ten points to Gryffindor." Was all he said in return as they others smiled and took their seats again. Time passes and it was now ten o'clock. The group had been waiting for two and a half hours. In that time Claire stresses shed a few tears slept for about minutes in total and everyone was bored.
They were now getting nervous and even Professor Dumbledore was looking uneasy.
"Professor, where are they? They should be here by now." James asked.
"Well Mr. Potter, I am going to find out…" just as the Headmaster was about to continue two figures fell out of his fireplace and looked very exhausted.
Claire squealed in surprise but after she realized she dived onto the floor where her boyfriend and best friend were lying. Their clothes were ripped. Sirius' arm was cut open and bleeding constantly, he had bruises all over his body and some parts of him were covered in painful blisters. Lily was bruised as well, she had a whole in her jeans and the one of the straps of her top was broken. Her arms and legs were covered in blisters, and they were both suffering from the after affects of the Crutiatus Curse.
They were getting up from the floor slowly trying not to hurt anything. Lily stood up with the help of James and Ella. Sirius tried to get up but Claire dived at him and hugged him, making it very painful. He groaned. She released him and Remus helped him stand up properly.
The first thing lily did was fell into James arms and leaned against him, to tried to hold herself up. She cried into his shoulder and all he did was stand there and hold her.
Sirius looked at Claire who was watching Lily, she then understood the reason for the sadness and tears started welling up in her eyes too.
"Hey, come here" Sirius leant up against the desk and she walked over. He wrapped her in his arms and for the first time that day he was slightly happy. Until he felt a sharp pain on his side. "OW".
"I think it is time we take these two to the hospital wing. Everybody follow me." Dumbledore said holding the door open. The group followed him to the hospital wing where they were greeted by Madam Pomfery.
By 11:45pm both Lily and Sirius were healed mostly and were sitting up in their beds. Their friends stood around them.
"So, how are you guys?" Ella asked breaking the silence.
"A bit better" Sirius said but lily was silent and clung to James as he sat at the end of her bed. She was still shaking and he was starting to worry about her again.
"Are you okay?" he whispered as the others talked about what was happening while the two were gone.
"James, he was there" Lily said with wide eyes.
"Who was there Lily?" he asked calmly until he saw the look on her face. He was about to question her more but Madam Pomfery came in with the headmaster.
"Ok, I'm sorry but these two need their rest. You can come back first thing in the morning" the nurse said as she made sure they were tucked in properly. The group said their goodbyes and Remus, Ella, James and Claire made their way to head Quarters again.
"James, what's wrong? You have been quiet ever since we left the hospital wing." Remus asked when they were back in their dorms. They both had showers and were walking around in just their boxers. James sat on his bed and looked at Remus.
"It is just something that Lily said in the hospital wing."
"What is it?" Remus questioned further waiting for James to continue.
"Well all she said was that, he was there. You should have sent the look on her face, she was terrified and wouldn't let go of me" James said with his brows furrowed.
"What do you think it means?"
"I think Voldemort was there"
Remus raised his eyes at such a comment. "Are you sure?"
"Well I am not sure but Lily isn't one to be frightened easily and… I don't know it was just kind of in her eyes. I know it sound stupid." James said lying on his back looking at the ceiling.
"No it isn't stupid, and if you are worried about it then we will ask her and Sirius tomorrow and they can tell us everything, but for now just try to get some sleep" Remus said getting under the blankets.
"That is going to be very hard, you know" James said doing to same.
"Well just think Lily is safe now and first thing tomorrow you can hold her and kiss her again" They both laughed before turning off the light and falling asleep.