The Last Laugh
Chapter Twenty: The Carbonated Crystal
By: Star*dust
A/N: You will find that Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer has a bit of an attitude so don't mind the swearing… (I don't know why I decided to warn you now when there's been plenty worse in other chapters… DON'T ASK ME TO EXPLAIN MY LOGIC!)
And, if you don't remember Elizabeth was one of Lily and James's friends from school. She's been in Germany studying with a rich cousin or something…
~*~
The day that Harry was brought home from the hospital James thought this was cause for celebration. So, just an hour after they came home Sirius and James sat down in the living room and chatted merrily while enjoying a cigar each.
If you can just imagine, a proud new father, and his adventurous, slightly off best friend, sitting in front of the fire in the living room, kicking back and smoking a cigar in celebration. Now, if you can imagine that much, we're doing well, but I'm sure you can all imagine the look on Lily's face when she came downstairs after laying Harry down.
"Ugh! James Potter and Sirius Black! Get those GOD AWFUL things out of my house before I hex you both! Get it out of here! I don't know what you were thinking smoking those in the house. HONESTLY," Lily went on as she ushered them outside onto the back porch.
She looked at them for a moment and then said "ugh!" again.
"What's wrong Lily, do you want one?" James asked.
"Oh for Merlin's sake! NO!" She shouted at him. And she started to walk away before turning around, grabbing the cigar from James, taking a long drag, and handing it back to him. "DISGUSTING!" She shouted throwing her hands in the air and marching back inside leaving James and Sirius chuckling on the porch.
"Women," James said rolling his eyes as he inspected his cigar. "This might kill me faster, but at least I'm having a good time right now,"
"I hear ya," Sirius said. "Women will never understand us,"
~*~
Only a few precious short weeks after Harry was born James and Lily took him to his first ever quidditch world cup. Angie, Sirius, Remus, and Peter came too, however, James forgot *cough, cough* to get a ticket for Josh, so he had to stay home with Kirsten. Angie welcomed the opportunity, even if Sirius was going to be there. At least she could get a break from the child, of course, Harry would be right there, so she wasn't really getting away.
James scored some coveted tickets by apparently doing a very good job at this last 'outing'. He sure looked like he had been through hell. Lily flipped when she saw him. He had an ugly black eye and a bandage over the other! But, he assured her everything was fine. However, she did not seem convinced and spent forever and a day fussing over him and begging him not to leave again. However, she nearly forgot about it when he produced the Cup tickets.
So, here they were again, just like last year, all of them together, except Harry was with them, and sadly Bill and Kelly Prewett were deceased; struck down by Voldemort and his repulsive death eaters. This year Canada and Romania had won the right to play and they happened to be in a very unfamiliar country, but no matter, this was quidditch!
They took their seats early and the men started discussing quidditch tactics and the players while Angie and Lily fussed over Harry. He had quite an impressive amount of hair, considering the fact that nearly all of Kirsten's hair had fallen out and all that remained was a sort of fuzz covering.
Suddenly, Sirius spat as he spotted some very unpleasant visitors. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, the newly married couple carried a baby, probably about the age of Kirsten, and they were coming right towards them. Lucius sneered when he came near. He took a seat right next to them, Lily and Harry to be precise. Narcissa and Lily with the babies sat right next to each other and Lucius and James on either side of their wives.
James leaned over and whispered to Lily.
"Trade me seats, so you don't have to worry about him,"
"No! What do you take me as, a coward? Or a fool? I don't want you sitting right here, you'll start something. We do not need to be detained by Romanian security!" Lily said harshly. With a sour look James turned back to Sirius. But suddenly a cry rang out!
Little Draco Malfoy was wailing because Harry Potter had a hold of his hair! James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter roared with laughter.
"That's my boy!" James cried. Lily quickly removed Harry from Draco. Narcissa was screaming and red in the face.
"Keep your child away from him, you bitch!" She proceeded to reach out at Harry but Lily was quicker. She slapped Narcissa's hand.
"Stay away from my child, you self-centered whore!" Lily yelled must to the amazement of all. "If you touch him I swear I'll curse that fake rack right off your chest!"
"Lily!" James said, quickly jumping up to calm his wife. "Perhaps you should sit over here," James took her by the arm and started to turn her away.
"Keep your wife away from us Potter you nasty git or you'll get something much worse than a little name calling." Lucius said. "Come Narcissa, we'll see if we can't get our seats changed. Apparently the top box has been contaminated with commoners," Lucius said spitting at James's feet before turning and walking away. James started to lunge after him but Remus held him back.
"Go Lily!" Sirius shouted when they had settled themselves again. "I couldn't have said it better myself!" A smiled played on Lily's lips.
"Some people, I mean honestly, Harry didn't know what he was doing. He doesn't know how to control his grip yet! He's only a few weeks old for Merlin's sake!"
"Don't get yourself all worked up." James said. "She deserved every word. It's all gravy, baby," Lily turned and gave him a look.
"What was that?" She asked.
"Never mind, it's starting."
~*~
Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco sat down towards the other end of the row. Luckily no one was sitting there and for the most part. The game was quite enjoyable…until…
Lily was taking Harry to the bathroom to change his diaper and to feed him. And all went well; they have very nice facilities at the world cup. Nice and clean.
The way back was barred by Narcissa and Draco. Lily was disgusted to hear Narcissa talking baby talk to her son and Lily stuck her nose in the air and proceeded to walk past them. Funny how life has a mind of its own. Or more like Harry had a mischievous mind of his own.
Harry reached out, and unknown to Lily took Draco's shoe right off his foot! Draco started wailing and soon after his mother started shouting too (and oddly enough, her shouting sounding remarkably like Draco's wailing).
"You just don't know when to stop do you?" Narcissa said oily. Lily whipped around, immediately knowing who it was.
"I don't know what you're talking about; you're the one who keeps bringing it up!"
"YOUR SON has Draco's shoe!" Narcissa shouted. Lily looked down and noticed Harry holding the shoe for the first time and she couldn't help but chuckle. Her son was very smart.
"Oh excuse us," Lily said very sarcastically and offered the shoe back to Narcissa, really not wanting to stay here and trade insults.
"I DON'T WANT THAT!" Narcissa screeched. "It's been poisoned by a mudblood!" Lily's face flushed with anger and rage.
"Call me that again," She dared Narcissa. But at that moment Harry tossed the shoe and it landed square on Narcissa's pointed nose. For a second she was too shocked to do anything. Cackling like a mad women Lily walked back to their seats.
~*~
An old man stood over a cauldron. An eerie green light was coming from it and causing the man to look very scary. At one time the man was probably very handsome and buff, but age had seemed to take its toll on him. He bent over the cauldron and dipped a glittering diamond necklace in the shape of a 'KZ' into the potion and starting to chant a very strange incantation.
He continued to place very odd ingredients into the potion. A lock of hair, zirconium, a dagger, a raven claw, badger, a bit of snake scales, and a ring.
Looking around the rest of the room there was a small girl, timid, and knocked out bound to a table. The décor was green, Slytherin green, and snakes were all around.
The man now had his wand pointed at the bubbling cauldron and he was almost shouting the strange spell. A strange light began to rise out of the cauldron and a horrible piercing blood curdling scream filled the air and out of the cauldron rose the shape of a young woman, perfect and fair, except see-through, like a ghost. This woman was screaming like a banshee and suddenly she flew to the girl bound to the table. And flew right inside of her.
The girl started to shake violently and her appearance changed. Her hair changed to a very fair blonde, long and straight, her lips were a perfect shape and bright red. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and accented by dark eye shadow. Her robes were of the best material and she wore that brilliant diamond necklace around her neck and a ring on her finger.
This was no longer the innocent girl Salazar Slytherin had kidnapped. This was a perfect mistress he had created.
The mirror over the fireplace showed her smiling reflection…
Lily screamed waking herself, Harry, and James. In that dream she had seen the very mirror that now hung in her living room.
"Lily!" James exclaimed jumping out of bed and following her into Harry's room. Lily picked him up and calmed him. She gently began to rock him back to sleep.
"Lily? Are you OK?" James whispered as she laid Harry back down into his crib.
"Just a dream," She replied now shutting his door quietly.
"A dream?" James questioned. "Do you want to tell me about it?"
"No, not right now," She said getting back into her bed that mirror on her mind.
~*~
Lily got up early the next morning. She had one thing on her mind: that mirror. She pulled on her robe and came down the main staircase. Sirius was sleeping on the couch as usual but she paid him no attention.
She walked to the mirror.
"You're up early dear," It said.
"Can I ask you a question?" Lily asked the mirror, feeling very stupid indeed asking her mirror questions. What next, the coffee table?
"Certainly," It replied.
"Well, I was having this dream last night, about well…" Lily trailed off for a moment. "I'm not really sure what it was about but I do remember seeing you there. But anyway, I know this may be a kind of a personal question…" *Personal question? What am I talking about? This is my mirror!* "How old are you?" She asked. "I mean, were you…um,…alive when Salazar Slytherin was?"
"Well, yes, he created me," The mirror replied.
"Oh," Lily replied. She was about to ask about the girl when James came downstairs with Harry and she was sidetracked.
"Hey," James said with a smile. Lily smiled back and followed them into the kitchen. "Couldn't you sleep?" James asked Lily; a worried expression on his face.
"I'm OK," She said. James looked unconvinced.
"Maybe you can take something to help you sleep better," He suggested trying to be careful about what he said.
"I don't need to take anything, I'm fine," Lily said stubbornly.
"Well, I just thought maybe there was something to help you with those dreams,"
"I don't need anything!" She snapped and James dropped it. It was no use arguing with her. It was a Thursday afternoon and she would have to go into work that afternoon, unfortunately.
"What's your plan for the day?" She asked James.
"My plan? I don't know, I think maybe I'll head into Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade and pick up a few things we need. I might do a little yard work. The bushes really look a sight," He said looking out the kitchen window.
"OK, while you're out, don't forget to pick up some more floo powder, we're almost out." She said with a yawn.
"Can do," He replied.
"Anything else?"
"Not that I can think of…" She said thoughtfully and then shrugged.
"Hey, if you see Moody today, tell him I think I might have something to tell him," James said suddenly.
"OK, but are you sure you want me to quote you on that?" Lily asked with a little grin.
"No, tell him I need to have a word with him. A sudden thought struck me last night, but it's just a theory," James said.
"I don't like your theories, you always have to leave and explore your theories," Lily replied.
"I'm sorry Lily, we've just been trying to break this code forever and I think I might have thought of something. Something reminded me of Gringotts…" He trailed off and seemed to be lost in thought.
Lily sighed and sipped her coffee and read the Daily Prophet. Just then an owl swooped in the window and dropped three letters on the table. One was for Lily from her parents, it seemed the were having the kitchen counters resurfaced. Petunia had also moved into a new house in Surrey…
"Interesting," James said setting down a piece of parchment. "Seems Elizabeth is planning to come back next summer, she hopes." He said with an eye roll. "You should see her, it's almost scary. She grown like four inches and she looks almost scary. I don't even want to know what she's been doing…" James said.
"Next summer?" Lily echoed. "That's almost an entire year away! She hasn't even seen Harry yet!" Lily exclaimed.
"Maybe if we changed his name to Brad she'd come back sooner," James said with a laugh.
"Just because she happened to date five guys named Brad doesn't mean anything," Lily said defending her friend.
"Six! It was six Brads," Sirius corrected coming into the kitchen.
"Whatever, she just liked guys whose names happened to be named Brad," Lily said.
"At any rate, she wants to come stay with us next summer, she says probably around Harry's birthday,"
"That's fine, tell her she can stay as long as she wants," Lily said as James quickly wrote her back and sent the owl off.
"Poor owl," Sirius said. "It just came all the way from Germany and now you're sending it back!" Lily and James rolled their eyes.
"And how's Harry my man?" Sirius exclaimed. "Hey! Harry! Harry! Come here kid! Give me five! Come on! Here you go! That's it! All right!" Sirius said spinning around in the kitchen with his godson. Lily and James laughed.
"Do you hear that Harry?" Sirius asked. "They're laughing at us," Sirius said. "Hey! He's smiling!" Sirius exclaimed.
"That usually means he has gas," Lily said with a laugh.
"Whoops, time to give you back to Mom and Dad now,"
~*~
Around 1:00PM Lily arrived at the ministry for work. She walked briskly down the hallway towards Moody's office intending to give him James's message. However she spotted him and another co-worker intently standing over a desk inside an office she was passing.
For a moment she studied them through the glass, but Moody's eye must have seen her because he turned around and then opened the door.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Potter, may I help you?" He asked.
"Oh, well, James needed to speak to you," She said, slightly embarrassed that he had caught her staring.
"Maybe he's figured something out, we certainly haven't…" He said with a scowl.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked curiously coming into the room.
"We intercepted this coded letter yesterday afternoon. We've been trying to break the code ever since because we think it may have come from one of the death eater camps near London." Moody quickly explained.
Lily bent over the code and frowned. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before.
"It seems to be in two different codes…" Moody said. "But we can't figure anything out,"
"James said something reminded him of Gringotts," Lily said.
"Well, that first line, it has two of the same symbols in a row here," Moody pointed. "Those could be the double t-s."
"Then that 'X' stands for 'R'." Lily said. "And the dot is an 'I'."
"The circle there is an 'N'," Moody pointed out.
"So the second line has some letter then an 'R' and later on there is the work 'in'" Lily said. Moody shook his head.
"But there are two many characters in the first line," He said.
"That's true. But there might be something that indicates a space or something like that. And we're also overlooking the possibility of numbers involved in here," Lily said. "Let me owl James," She said quickly exiting the room.
Soon Lily, James, Moody, and Bartimus Crouch were standing over this message. Lily had a piece of parchment and she kept trying things and then crossing them out.
It was now almost three o'clock.
"We've called in a code breaker from Germany." Crouch said. "She's originally from here, so we can communicate better, though I do speak German," He said. "I don't know where she is though!" He said angrily.
"In that second to last line those third and fourth symbols look like 'L's," James pointed out.
"What's a four letter word that ends in double L-s?" Moody asked.
"Will?"
"Wall?"
"Call?"
"Mall?"
"Ball?"
"Tall?"
"Pill?"
"KILL!" Lily shouted. They all looked at the word.
"I suppose it's possible, but it almost doesn't work," Moody said.
"Where's that code breaker?" Crouch roared.
"Right here, excuse me for the delay," A young woman, who stood up tall and importantly said. She was a very pretty woman, but she had a definite air of authority about her. Her voice was soft and young but very commanding. She had long curly black hair, reaching halfway down her back. Her eyes were a pale gray and she wore smart glasses, if you know what I mean. Her skin was pale but clear, and her look professional. This woman was none other than Hogwarts graduate Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer.
She went right over to the parchment and began inspecting it closely.
After a couple of minutes of she had several scratch pieces of parchment laid out and she was directing about a dozen quills at once with her wand. After quite a while of what seemed like disorganized confusion she stopped all the quills and carefully inspected the pages.
The first piece of parchment she crumpled and tossed it into the air, and pointing her wand at it, it disappeared with a small flash and a pop.
The second one she seemed to consider for a while before picking up a quill and scratching most things out. But she did circle something.
The third piece of parchment she actually spoke. "AHA! A word here," She said. Everyone looked at her anxiously. "Gringotts," She said. James rolled his eyes. That had done them a lot of good. The rest of the pieces she circled a couple of things and then started to work again.
After many long minutes of this she was started to get something out of it. And suddenly she shouted. "OH ELIZABETH, YOU DUMBASS!" Bartimus Crouch looked at her disapprovingly but she had discovered something.
"Numbers!" She explained. "Lots of them, and lucky for us, I know most of those symbols." In no time she had all the numbers figured out.
"Well, this certainly helps." She said looking at the partially decoded message. "Almost there," She said. Just a few quick adjustments and she had a quill working it out. The first bits of the message started to appear and James's eyes grew wide.
The message now read:
Gringotts
Break-in 10-31
4:00__
Kill all
B_rn t_is
It was pretty clear what the message was about.
Moody was just about to go to the door to send out aurors when someone burst through the door.
"GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN!!" The man yelled before quickly taking off back down the corridor. Moody swore loudly and James quickly followed Moody and Crouch out the door.
"STAY HERE!!!" James screamed wildly at Lily as he shut the door behind him.
She still worried about James and wanted to know what was going on. Elizabeth said something in German and grabbed her wand.
"Hell with him!" Elizabeth screeched. "Come on," She said and Lily followed her.
"We can't apparate until we're outside," Lily said.
"Yeah, that's annoying," Elizabeth replied.
"Come on," Lily said opening a door to an empty office. Elizabeth followed her curiously. Lily went to the window and kicked it so that it shattered into millions of pieces on the floor. Elizabeth stared for a second as Lily jumped out of the window and then she followed and in an instant they were out in Diagon alley.
Gringotts was a mess. People were running screaming from the bank and a few people were pushing their way inside. No one that was coming out was hurt but they were all shaken and they were being herded into the back of a boarded up shop.
Looking down the alley, most people had disappeared from it, leaving it to look very strange, but there were a few people who were still running around trying to find an open place where they could find refuge.
Turning their attention back to the bank they made straight for the doors. There were still people, and goblins, obviously, as well, coming from it. They went right to the doors but a tall man stopped them.
"Dangerous business, authorized ministry officials only," He said.
"But I'm a ministry official!" Lily explained. "I work with the Magical Law Enforcement Department. I'm Lily Potter," She said as if this would make a difference. The man just glared at her.
"I'm Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer, a code-breaker from Germany. I was working on the case to try and figure out what was going down here." Elizabeth tried.
"I have my orders, you're not authorized!" He insisted. Elizabeth started rambling in German and Lily swore.
"Come on," Lily said. "There's nothing here for us," She said. So, a minute later found them walking into Lily's office to listen to the Wizarding Wireless Network.
The WWN didn't have much to say at first. Just a few people who shakily told them that hooded and cloaked figures came swooping in and killing people (and goblins) But then news started to leak out.
Bad news reports of dozens of scattered bodies and ministry officials too.
"Almost everyone that went in immediately after the attack, or during was killed. Nearly all people down in the carts were murdered, especially those near the bottommost part of the underground. No news yet on what, or if anything was taken…"
"James!" Lily said worriedly. "We've got to get in there," She continued. A new determination seemed to come into her eyes and Elizabeth followed it.
They raced outside and appeared again in Diagon Alley. Lily wasted no time performing a complicated charm that allowed her to scale a building like spider man. The door guard screamed at her but Elizabeth and Lily had disappeared through a window before anything could have been done. There was one dead body in the room they entered and Lily looked horrified.
Even after all the things she had seen in flashbacks and such she still wasn't quite used to it. Elizabeth was completely unfazed and made absolutely no sigh on emotion as she strode right past the man who stared with open frightened eyes.
Down stairs they went to the main floor where dozens of people lay strewn about. It was horrible. Not a living thing was about except the two of them. They walked towards one of the many doors leading away when Lily suddenly gasped and gripped Elizabeth's arm.
Her eyes grew wide as she looked down at the body of a young woman at her feet. She knew that she should be breathing but that didn't seem possible as she looked into the face of a girl she known for over half a decade. She was looking into the face of Karen Christianson-McKinnon.
~*~
Elizabeth showed the slightest bit of emotion. Her eyes flashed and her lips tightened. "There's nothing we can do for her here," She said and pulled Lily away.
Slowly, Lily's bodily functions began to work again as they entered the dark tunnel. The torches had all gone out but Elizabeth grabbed one and lit it. They started to run down the tunnel not knowing what they were going to do if they came to a bridge or a place where the tracks didn't run over the ground.
They plunged deeper and deeper underground, and although they met carts with dead goblins and people they had not yet met a living person, and this was starting to bother Lily. Many vaults passed by, but all were locked and secure.
And then, quite suddenly they turned a corner and there was a person. Immediately the torch went out, for some unknown energy source was strong at work. They could feel it. This was hooded figure and he was holding a brilliant crystal, dead people were strewn all around him and many more dead goblins lay here too.
Lily and Elizabeth didn't do anything because he hadn't noticed them yet and he was TALKING TO HIMSELF. They seemed to be transfixed almost with the crystal.
"Master will be so pleased with me. I will be rewarded for getting the crystal. The-" He had suddenly noticed them and a wave of cold fear over took Lily and he approached them. Elizabeth seemed to be in a sort of a trance, she was just staring dumbly.
Lily backed slowly into the wall and she opened her mouth to scream just as a hand shot out from the cloak and enclosed itself over her mouth. But suddenly someone else came running around the corner, with wand raised.
He was leading a group of people. And the man with the crystal looked at them all. The leader shouted a spell which Lily couldn't hear but before he had even finished the spell the man had disapparated.
Elizabeth came out of her trance almost at once, which was a good thing too, because she had just enough time to move out of the way of the flash of light which had burst from James Potter's wand.
"LILY ROSE EVANS!!" He screamed at her. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE!?!?" He continued very fluently in curse words as he came closer to her. But Lily stared defiantly into his eyes. Finally he stopped yelling, and sighed.
"Are you alright?" He asked. Lily nodded and then as if suddenly remembering something.
"That man! That was just here, he had the Carbonated Crystal," She said. The carbonated crystal was a powerful magical object which created its own energy source. It was very valuable. James didn't have the slightest idea what that was but several other aurors with him did. Most of them were cursing and asking questions like:
"What are they going to do with that?" "Shit, I suppose they're going to have another attack or create some weapon of mass destruction now," Etc.
"Are you sure?" A voice suddenly asked.
"Yes of course!" Lily said. "I know my famous magical objects. I had a huge test on them just recently." She said. The Ministry periodically made their workers take tests on certain things to make them more useful.
"If she's right we might all be screwed," Elizabeth said speaking for the first time. "And Lily usually is right. I think it was the crystal though, because I zoned out, you know, it seemed to draw me in, I couldn't keep my eyes off of it, and I could feel a pulse. Its energy is strong." She said.
~*~
When Lily, James, and Elizabeth arrived back at the ministry of magic Sirius, Harry, and Angie were nervously waiting for them.
"Oh thank god!" Angie cried when she saw them.
"What the hell is going on?" Sirius said.
"Are you hurt?" Angie asked.
"We're fine, but a lot of other people aren't," Lily said. She took Harry and held him close, glad to be able to hold her son. James kissed Harry on the forehead feeling very lucky to still be here to do so. "Karen McKinnon," Lily said softly looking at James. She shook her head. "She's dead, I saw her,"
"Oh god!" Angie said biting her lip. Sirius pulled her into a hug. For a moment Lily thought she was going to cry but she took a deep breath and continued.
"The carbonated crystal was stolen too,"
"And Lily almost got herself killed," James said sharply. Angie's eyes got wide.
"WHAT!?" She and Sirius exclaimed. Lily looked down at Harry.
"You can't have expected us to stay here!" Elizabeth shouted. "Just stay here and do nothing when all those people were being massacred. You're mad if you think we were just going to sit here and let it happen!" Sirius and Angie noticed her for the first time. For a split second they didn't recognize her, she had changed a great deal since they had last seen her.
She no longer had an air of young, naïve, and adventurous, but wiser, in charge, and important.
"You almost got yourselves killed trying to save others, which would have done us no good!" James countered.
"Oh Potter, I'm sure you were in some pretty close shaves today too, and you always are. This isn't just a man's work! Get off your horse and come down to earth, here it takes both talented wizards and witches to do the job, because men will always fuck something up," Elizabeth said angrily. She supported their decision to go into that bank. "Your wife isn't six god damn years old! She's a powerful witch, and you should respect that!" James's upper lip curled under in anger. He wanted to reply but held himself back… somewhat.
"If something were to happen to me, I'm just trying to make sure that Lily is still here to care for Harry. And I don't need to be worrying about her while I'm trying to do more pressing matters at hand." He said.
"Then don't worry about her, because she can handle it!"
"Apparently not, since you both would have been dead if I hadn't of showed up!"
"I! What the hell is with that, Mr. Cocky-High-Horse-Nose-In-The-Clouds! You, AND, a bunch of aurors! Not just YOU!" Elizabeth snapped.
"You still shouldn't have gone in there. You weren't authorized!" James said.
"Whatever, I know that you probably did save me today, so thanks, but I don't want to listen to any of your crap. I am needed back in Germany, so have a good day!" She said turning on her heel and marching away.
~*~
"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again," James said turning back to Lily.
"Excuse me but don't you ever tell me what to do!" She said angrily.
"I think you guys should just come home," Sirius said interrupting them.
"Yes, you're right," Lily agreed and home is where everyone went. But, not until she got home did Lily really realize the date.
"James? What is the date today?" She asked.
"The thirty-first," He said.
"It's Halloween," She whispered.
~*~
That night, Halloween night, several letters were sent to the Potter household. They were just concerned notes wanting to make sure they were still OK after the Gringotts thing today, including one from Dumbledore.
But an unexpected guest turned up outside. It was Matt McKinnon.
"Matt!" Lily exclaimed when she answered the door. "Come in," She said letting him into the house and then bolting the door behind him.
Matt looked pretty bad. He had been worrying all afternoon and had been down at the ministry waiting for answers for hours, but none came. Finally he decided to come to the Potters, not knowing what else to do. He sat down near the fire.
"Is something bothering you?" James asked his friend as Lily brought him a cup of tea.
"It's Kerrie," He said and Lily and James stiffened. "I haven't heard from her since this morning," He said. When they didn't say anything he continued. "She was supposed to go to the bank today," He said this very dryly and his eyes seemed to have gone out of focus, they weren't seeing anything in this room.
"I think she's…" He let his sentence hang for several long moments. "I've been at the ministry but they aren't telling me anything. Most survivors are still being questioned, but they aren't telling us who they've rescued and who they've carried out in a bag!" He exclaimed. Lily swallowed hard and looked at James.
With a deep breath James decided he better tell him. "Matt, Kerrie's dead," James told him solemnly. "She didn't make it," There was absolutely no reaction from Matt for the longest time.
"I know this is your house," He said suddenly, "But I would like to be left alone right now," James nodded to Lily and they sadly made their way upstairs.
~*~
Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer sent them a letter on pretty stationary that had German along the borders.
Dear Lily… and James too,
I'm sorry about Halloween; I just got a little carried away. I didn't mean to cause problems, but you know me, with my big mouth.
I can't talk much now and I wish I could have had a better look at Harry, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I acted, and I wanted to thank James… for saving my life.
See you next summer,
Liz
~*~
Lily seemed to be having one of those strange out of body experiences but actually she was just dreaming… again.
This dream was very strange though, possibly even rivaling the Slytherin dream. This time she and James were IN a mirror. *Strange… like this would ever happen!*
Both she and James were looking out of the mirror upon that same black haired boy she had seen before, or thought she had. He had James's glasses and her bright green eyes. A queer thought entered her mind. *Was this Harry?* They were just looking at each other.
Suddenly Lily became aware that she was crying. But she seemed to have no control over this, and she didn't know why she was crying, because she was most certainly still smiling too!
Surveying the other surroundings Lily supposed she was in Hogwarts, of course, she was dreaming. She had never seen this classroom before, but she was sure she was in that familiar castle. It was very strange…
When Lily woke up she shook herself. That was by far the strangest dream she had had, just for the simple fact that she was actually thinking things while she was dreaming…
*****End of chapter*****
A/N: Last chapter y'all didn't seem to like Harry's middle name being Dudley. Oh well, that will come into play in the sequel… So, I only got 7 reviews and that's not enough! Hello people! What happened to you? Y'all drop off the planet or something, or did you not like the chapter? Come on people, I need some more reviews!
But thank you very much to all of you who did review:
Hyper Princess (As always, luv ya very much girl!)
Ax (You know, just about everyone said something about Harry's names, but there was nothing about Kirsten, you were the only one! Lol!)
Genevieve (Sorry, I haven't figured out how to get accents on this computer…)
sCHEm (Didn't you hate that? Where you couldn't sign in? That pissed me off…)
Libertygrl413 (I finally started reading your story again, sorry about the wait…)
~*Crystal Lily*~
Chellee
Well, I'm sorry if I'm starting to rush a lot. It's really going to feel like it pretty soon, but I am REALLY close to the end (THREE MORE CHAPTERS!!!) I just wanted to apologize for generalizing half a year ahead of time! Nothing happens, I swear, nothing! Lol.
Talk to all you wonderful people next chapter!
~Star*dust
PS JINGLE BELLS!! (Don't take it personally…)
Chapter Twenty: The Carbonated Crystal
By: Star*dust
A/N: You will find that Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer has a bit of an attitude so don't mind the swearing… (I don't know why I decided to warn you now when there's been plenty worse in other chapters… DON'T ASK ME TO EXPLAIN MY LOGIC!)
And, if you don't remember Elizabeth was one of Lily and James's friends from school. She's been in Germany studying with a rich cousin or something…
~*~
The day that Harry was brought home from the hospital James thought this was cause for celebration. So, just an hour after they came home Sirius and James sat down in the living room and chatted merrily while enjoying a cigar each.
If you can just imagine, a proud new father, and his adventurous, slightly off best friend, sitting in front of the fire in the living room, kicking back and smoking a cigar in celebration. Now, if you can imagine that much, we're doing well, but I'm sure you can all imagine the look on Lily's face when she came downstairs after laying Harry down.
"Ugh! James Potter and Sirius Black! Get those GOD AWFUL things out of my house before I hex you both! Get it out of here! I don't know what you were thinking smoking those in the house. HONESTLY," Lily went on as she ushered them outside onto the back porch.
She looked at them for a moment and then said "ugh!" again.
"What's wrong Lily, do you want one?" James asked.
"Oh for Merlin's sake! NO!" She shouted at him. And she started to walk away before turning around, grabbing the cigar from James, taking a long drag, and handing it back to him. "DISGUSTING!" She shouted throwing her hands in the air and marching back inside leaving James and Sirius chuckling on the porch.
"Women," James said rolling his eyes as he inspected his cigar. "This might kill me faster, but at least I'm having a good time right now,"
"I hear ya," Sirius said. "Women will never understand us,"
~*~
Only a few precious short weeks after Harry was born James and Lily took him to his first ever quidditch world cup. Angie, Sirius, Remus, and Peter came too, however, James forgot *cough, cough* to get a ticket for Josh, so he had to stay home with Kirsten. Angie welcomed the opportunity, even if Sirius was going to be there. At least she could get a break from the child, of course, Harry would be right there, so she wasn't really getting away.
James scored some coveted tickets by apparently doing a very good job at this last 'outing'. He sure looked like he had been through hell. Lily flipped when she saw him. He had an ugly black eye and a bandage over the other! But, he assured her everything was fine. However, she did not seem convinced and spent forever and a day fussing over him and begging him not to leave again. However, she nearly forgot about it when he produced the Cup tickets.
So, here they were again, just like last year, all of them together, except Harry was with them, and sadly Bill and Kelly Prewett were deceased; struck down by Voldemort and his repulsive death eaters. This year Canada and Romania had won the right to play and they happened to be in a very unfamiliar country, but no matter, this was quidditch!
They took their seats early and the men started discussing quidditch tactics and the players while Angie and Lily fussed over Harry. He had quite an impressive amount of hair, considering the fact that nearly all of Kirsten's hair had fallen out and all that remained was a sort of fuzz covering.
Suddenly, Sirius spat as he spotted some very unpleasant visitors. Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, the newly married couple carried a baby, probably about the age of Kirsten, and they were coming right towards them. Lucius sneered when he came near. He took a seat right next to them, Lily and Harry to be precise. Narcissa and Lily with the babies sat right next to each other and Lucius and James on either side of their wives.
James leaned over and whispered to Lily.
"Trade me seats, so you don't have to worry about him,"
"No! What do you take me as, a coward? Or a fool? I don't want you sitting right here, you'll start something. We do not need to be detained by Romanian security!" Lily said harshly. With a sour look James turned back to Sirius. But suddenly a cry rang out!
Little Draco Malfoy was wailing because Harry Potter had a hold of his hair! James, Sirius, Remus, and Peter roared with laughter.
"That's my boy!" James cried. Lily quickly removed Harry from Draco. Narcissa was screaming and red in the face.
"Keep your child away from him, you bitch!" She proceeded to reach out at Harry but Lily was quicker. She slapped Narcissa's hand.
"Stay away from my child, you self-centered whore!" Lily yelled must to the amazement of all. "If you touch him I swear I'll curse that fake rack right off your chest!"
"Lily!" James said, quickly jumping up to calm his wife. "Perhaps you should sit over here," James took her by the arm and started to turn her away.
"Keep your wife away from us Potter you nasty git or you'll get something much worse than a little name calling." Lucius said. "Come Narcissa, we'll see if we can't get our seats changed. Apparently the top box has been contaminated with commoners," Lucius said spitting at James's feet before turning and walking away. James started to lunge after him but Remus held him back.
"Go Lily!" Sirius shouted when they had settled themselves again. "I couldn't have said it better myself!" A smiled played on Lily's lips.
"Some people, I mean honestly, Harry didn't know what he was doing. He doesn't know how to control his grip yet! He's only a few weeks old for Merlin's sake!"
"Don't get yourself all worked up." James said. "She deserved every word. It's all gravy, baby," Lily turned and gave him a look.
"What was that?" She asked.
"Never mind, it's starting."
~*~
Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco sat down towards the other end of the row. Luckily no one was sitting there and for the most part. The game was quite enjoyable…until…
Lily was taking Harry to the bathroom to change his diaper and to feed him. And all went well; they have very nice facilities at the world cup. Nice and clean.
The way back was barred by Narcissa and Draco. Lily was disgusted to hear Narcissa talking baby talk to her son and Lily stuck her nose in the air and proceeded to walk past them. Funny how life has a mind of its own. Or more like Harry had a mischievous mind of his own.
Harry reached out, and unknown to Lily took Draco's shoe right off his foot! Draco started wailing and soon after his mother started shouting too (and oddly enough, her shouting sounding remarkably like Draco's wailing).
"You just don't know when to stop do you?" Narcissa said oily. Lily whipped around, immediately knowing who it was.
"I don't know what you're talking about; you're the one who keeps bringing it up!"
"YOUR SON has Draco's shoe!" Narcissa shouted. Lily looked down and noticed Harry holding the shoe for the first time and she couldn't help but chuckle. Her son was very smart.
"Oh excuse us," Lily said very sarcastically and offered the shoe back to Narcissa, really not wanting to stay here and trade insults.
"I DON'T WANT THAT!" Narcissa screeched. "It's been poisoned by a mudblood!" Lily's face flushed with anger and rage.
"Call me that again," She dared Narcissa. But at that moment Harry tossed the shoe and it landed square on Narcissa's pointed nose. For a second she was too shocked to do anything. Cackling like a mad women Lily walked back to their seats.
~*~
An old man stood over a cauldron. An eerie green light was coming from it and causing the man to look very scary. At one time the man was probably very handsome and buff, but age had seemed to take its toll on him. He bent over the cauldron and dipped a glittering diamond necklace in the shape of a 'KZ' into the potion and starting to chant a very strange incantation.
He continued to place very odd ingredients into the potion. A lock of hair, zirconium, a dagger, a raven claw, badger, a bit of snake scales, and a ring.
Looking around the rest of the room there was a small girl, timid, and knocked out bound to a table. The décor was green, Slytherin green, and snakes were all around.
The man now had his wand pointed at the bubbling cauldron and he was almost shouting the strange spell. A strange light began to rise out of the cauldron and a horrible piercing blood curdling scream filled the air and out of the cauldron rose the shape of a young woman, perfect and fair, except see-through, like a ghost. This woman was screaming like a banshee and suddenly she flew to the girl bound to the table. And flew right inside of her.
The girl started to shake violently and her appearance changed. Her hair changed to a very fair blonde, long and straight, her lips were a perfect shape and bright red. Her eyes were a brilliant blue and accented by dark eye shadow. Her robes were of the best material and she wore that brilliant diamond necklace around her neck and a ring on her finger.
This was no longer the innocent girl Salazar Slytherin had kidnapped. This was a perfect mistress he had created.
The mirror over the fireplace showed her smiling reflection…
Lily screamed waking herself, Harry, and James. In that dream she had seen the very mirror that now hung in her living room.
"Lily!" James exclaimed jumping out of bed and following her into Harry's room. Lily picked him up and calmed him. She gently began to rock him back to sleep.
"Lily? Are you OK?" James whispered as she laid Harry back down into his crib.
"Just a dream," She replied now shutting his door quietly.
"A dream?" James questioned. "Do you want to tell me about it?"
"No, not right now," She said getting back into her bed that mirror on her mind.
~*~
Lily got up early the next morning. She had one thing on her mind: that mirror. She pulled on her robe and came down the main staircase. Sirius was sleeping on the couch as usual but she paid him no attention.
She walked to the mirror.
"You're up early dear," It said.
"Can I ask you a question?" Lily asked the mirror, feeling very stupid indeed asking her mirror questions. What next, the coffee table?
"Certainly," It replied.
"Well, I was having this dream last night, about well…" Lily trailed off for a moment. "I'm not really sure what it was about but I do remember seeing you there. But anyway, I know this may be a kind of a personal question…" *Personal question? What am I talking about? This is my mirror!* "How old are you?" She asked. "I mean, were you…um,…alive when Salazar Slytherin was?"
"Well, yes, he created me," The mirror replied.
"Oh," Lily replied. She was about to ask about the girl when James came downstairs with Harry and she was sidetracked.
"Hey," James said with a smile. Lily smiled back and followed them into the kitchen. "Couldn't you sleep?" James asked Lily; a worried expression on his face.
"I'm OK," She said. James looked unconvinced.
"Maybe you can take something to help you sleep better," He suggested trying to be careful about what he said.
"I don't need to take anything, I'm fine," Lily said stubbornly.
"Well, I just thought maybe there was something to help you with those dreams,"
"I don't need anything!" She snapped and James dropped it. It was no use arguing with her. It was a Thursday afternoon and she would have to go into work that afternoon, unfortunately.
"What's your plan for the day?" She asked James.
"My plan? I don't know, I think maybe I'll head into Diagon Alley or Hogsmeade and pick up a few things we need. I might do a little yard work. The bushes really look a sight," He said looking out the kitchen window.
"OK, while you're out, don't forget to pick up some more floo powder, we're almost out." She said with a yawn.
"Can do," He replied.
"Anything else?"
"Not that I can think of…" She said thoughtfully and then shrugged.
"Hey, if you see Moody today, tell him I think I might have something to tell him," James said suddenly.
"OK, but are you sure you want me to quote you on that?" Lily asked with a little grin.
"No, tell him I need to have a word with him. A sudden thought struck me last night, but it's just a theory," James said.
"I don't like your theories, you always have to leave and explore your theories," Lily replied.
"I'm sorry Lily, we've just been trying to break this code forever and I think I might have thought of something. Something reminded me of Gringotts…" He trailed off and seemed to be lost in thought.
Lily sighed and sipped her coffee and read the Daily Prophet. Just then an owl swooped in the window and dropped three letters on the table. One was for Lily from her parents, it seemed the were having the kitchen counters resurfaced. Petunia had also moved into a new house in Surrey…
"Interesting," James said setting down a piece of parchment. "Seems Elizabeth is planning to come back next summer, she hopes." He said with an eye roll. "You should see her, it's almost scary. She grown like four inches and she looks almost scary. I don't even want to know what she's been doing…" James said.
"Next summer?" Lily echoed. "That's almost an entire year away! She hasn't even seen Harry yet!" Lily exclaimed.
"Maybe if we changed his name to Brad she'd come back sooner," James said with a laugh.
"Just because she happened to date five guys named Brad doesn't mean anything," Lily said defending her friend.
"Six! It was six Brads," Sirius corrected coming into the kitchen.
"Whatever, she just liked guys whose names happened to be named Brad," Lily said.
"At any rate, she wants to come stay with us next summer, she says probably around Harry's birthday,"
"That's fine, tell her she can stay as long as she wants," Lily said as James quickly wrote her back and sent the owl off.
"Poor owl," Sirius said. "It just came all the way from Germany and now you're sending it back!" Lily and James rolled their eyes.
"And how's Harry my man?" Sirius exclaimed. "Hey! Harry! Harry! Come here kid! Give me five! Come on! Here you go! That's it! All right!" Sirius said spinning around in the kitchen with his godson. Lily and James laughed.
"Do you hear that Harry?" Sirius asked. "They're laughing at us," Sirius said. "Hey! He's smiling!" Sirius exclaimed.
"That usually means he has gas," Lily said with a laugh.
"Whoops, time to give you back to Mom and Dad now,"
~*~
Around 1:00PM Lily arrived at the ministry for work. She walked briskly down the hallway towards Moody's office intending to give him James's message. However she spotted him and another co-worker intently standing over a desk inside an office she was passing.
For a moment she studied them through the glass, but Moody's eye must have seen her because he turned around and then opened the door.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Potter, may I help you?" He asked.
"Oh, well, James needed to speak to you," She said, slightly embarrassed that he had caught her staring.
"Maybe he's figured something out, we certainly haven't…" He said with a scowl.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked curiously coming into the room.
"We intercepted this coded letter yesterday afternoon. We've been trying to break the code ever since because we think it may have come from one of the death eater camps near London." Moody quickly explained.
Lily bent over the code and frowned. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before.
"It seems to be in two different codes…" Moody said. "But we can't figure anything out,"
"James said something reminded him of Gringotts," Lily said.
"Well, that first line, it has two of the same symbols in a row here," Moody pointed. "Those could be the double t-s."
"Then that 'X' stands for 'R'." Lily said. "And the dot is an 'I'."
"The circle there is an 'N'," Moody pointed out.
"So the second line has some letter then an 'R' and later on there is the work 'in'" Lily said. Moody shook his head.
"But there are two many characters in the first line," He said.
"That's true. But there might be something that indicates a space or something like that. And we're also overlooking the possibility of numbers involved in here," Lily said. "Let me owl James," She said quickly exiting the room.
Soon Lily, James, Moody, and Bartimus Crouch were standing over this message. Lily had a piece of parchment and she kept trying things and then crossing them out.
It was now almost three o'clock.
"We've called in a code breaker from Germany." Crouch said. "She's originally from here, so we can communicate better, though I do speak German," He said. "I don't know where she is though!" He said angrily.
"In that second to last line those third and fourth symbols look like 'L's," James pointed out.
"What's a four letter word that ends in double L-s?" Moody asked.
"Will?"
"Wall?"
"Call?"
"Mall?"
"Ball?"
"Tall?"
"Pill?"
"KILL!" Lily shouted. They all looked at the word.
"I suppose it's possible, but it almost doesn't work," Moody said.
"Where's that code breaker?" Crouch roared.
"Right here, excuse me for the delay," A young woman, who stood up tall and importantly said. She was a very pretty woman, but she had a definite air of authority about her. Her voice was soft and young but very commanding. She had long curly black hair, reaching halfway down her back. Her eyes were a pale gray and she wore smart glasses, if you know what I mean. Her skin was pale but clear, and her look professional. This woman was none other than Hogwarts graduate Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer.
She went right over to the parchment and began inspecting it closely.
After a couple of minutes of she had several scratch pieces of parchment laid out and she was directing about a dozen quills at once with her wand. After quite a while of what seemed like disorganized confusion she stopped all the quills and carefully inspected the pages.
The first piece of parchment she crumpled and tossed it into the air, and pointing her wand at it, it disappeared with a small flash and a pop.
The second one she seemed to consider for a while before picking up a quill and scratching most things out. But she did circle something.
The third piece of parchment she actually spoke. "AHA! A word here," She said. Everyone looked at her anxiously. "Gringotts," She said. James rolled his eyes. That had done them a lot of good. The rest of the pieces she circled a couple of things and then started to work again.
After many long minutes of this she was started to get something out of it. And suddenly she shouted. "OH ELIZABETH, YOU DUMBASS!" Bartimus Crouch looked at her disapprovingly but she had discovered something.
"Numbers!" She explained. "Lots of them, and lucky for us, I know most of those symbols." In no time she had all the numbers figured out.
"Well, this certainly helps." She said looking at the partially decoded message. "Almost there," She said. Just a few quick adjustments and she had a quill working it out. The first bits of the message started to appear and James's eyes grew wide.
The message now read:
Gringotts
Break-in 10-31
4:00__
Kill all
B_rn t_is
It was pretty clear what the message was about.
Moody was just about to go to the door to send out aurors when someone burst through the door.
"GRINGOTTS BREAK-IN!!" The man yelled before quickly taking off back down the corridor. Moody swore loudly and James quickly followed Moody and Crouch out the door.
"STAY HERE!!!" James screamed wildly at Lily as he shut the door behind him.
She still worried about James and wanted to know what was going on. Elizabeth said something in German and grabbed her wand.
"Hell with him!" Elizabeth screeched. "Come on," She said and Lily followed her.
"We can't apparate until we're outside," Lily said.
"Yeah, that's annoying," Elizabeth replied.
"Come on," Lily said opening a door to an empty office. Elizabeth followed her curiously. Lily went to the window and kicked it so that it shattered into millions of pieces on the floor. Elizabeth stared for a second as Lily jumped out of the window and then she followed and in an instant they were out in Diagon alley.
Gringotts was a mess. People were running screaming from the bank and a few people were pushing their way inside. No one that was coming out was hurt but they were all shaken and they were being herded into the back of a boarded up shop.
Looking down the alley, most people had disappeared from it, leaving it to look very strange, but there were a few people who were still running around trying to find an open place where they could find refuge.
Turning their attention back to the bank they made straight for the doors. There were still people, and goblins, obviously, as well, coming from it. They went right to the doors but a tall man stopped them.
"Dangerous business, authorized ministry officials only," He said.
"But I'm a ministry official!" Lily explained. "I work with the Magical Law Enforcement Department. I'm Lily Potter," She said as if this would make a difference. The man just glared at her.
"I'm Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer, a code-breaker from Germany. I was working on the case to try and figure out what was going down here." Elizabeth tried.
"I have my orders, you're not authorized!" He insisted. Elizabeth started rambling in German and Lily swore.
"Come on," Lily said. "There's nothing here for us," She said. So, a minute later found them walking into Lily's office to listen to the Wizarding Wireless Network.
The WWN didn't have much to say at first. Just a few people who shakily told them that hooded and cloaked figures came swooping in and killing people (and goblins) But then news started to leak out.
Bad news reports of dozens of scattered bodies and ministry officials too.
"Almost everyone that went in immediately after the attack, or during was killed. Nearly all people down in the carts were murdered, especially those near the bottommost part of the underground. No news yet on what, or if anything was taken…"
"James!" Lily said worriedly. "We've got to get in there," She continued. A new determination seemed to come into her eyes and Elizabeth followed it.
They raced outside and appeared again in Diagon Alley. Lily wasted no time performing a complicated charm that allowed her to scale a building like spider man. The door guard screamed at her but Elizabeth and Lily had disappeared through a window before anything could have been done. There was one dead body in the room they entered and Lily looked horrified.
Even after all the things she had seen in flashbacks and such she still wasn't quite used to it. Elizabeth was completely unfazed and made absolutely no sigh on emotion as she strode right past the man who stared with open frightened eyes.
Down stairs they went to the main floor where dozens of people lay strewn about. It was horrible. Not a living thing was about except the two of them. They walked towards one of the many doors leading away when Lily suddenly gasped and gripped Elizabeth's arm.
Her eyes grew wide as she looked down at the body of a young woman at her feet. She knew that she should be breathing but that didn't seem possible as she looked into the face of a girl she known for over half a decade. She was looking into the face of Karen Christianson-McKinnon.
~*~
Elizabeth showed the slightest bit of emotion. Her eyes flashed and her lips tightened. "There's nothing we can do for her here," She said and pulled Lily away.
Slowly, Lily's bodily functions began to work again as they entered the dark tunnel. The torches had all gone out but Elizabeth grabbed one and lit it. They started to run down the tunnel not knowing what they were going to do if they came to a bridge or a place where the tracks didn't run over the ground.
They plunged deeper and deeper underground, and although they met carts with dead goblins and people they had not yet met a living person, and this was starting to bother Lily. Many vaults passed by, but all were locked and secure.
And then, quite suddenly they turned a corner and there was a person. Immediately the torch went out, for some unknown energy source was strong at work. They could feel it. This was hooded figure and he was holding a brilliant crystal, dead people were strewn all around him and many more dead goblins lay here too.
Lily and Elizabeth didn't do anything because he hadn't noticed them yet and he was TALKING TO HIMSELF. They seemed to be transfixed almost with the crystal.
"Master will be so pleased with me. I will be rewarded for getting the crystal. The-" He had suddenly noticed them and a wave of cold fear over took Lily and he approached them. Elizabeth seemed to be in a sort of a trance, she was just staring dumbly.
Lily backed slowly into the wall and she opened her mouth to scream just as a hand shot out from the cloak and enclosed itself over her mouth. But suddenly someone else came running around the corner, with wand raised.
He was leading a group of people. And the man with the crystal looked at them all. The leader shouted a spell which Lily couldn't hear but before he had even finished the spell the man had disapparated.
Elizabeth came out of her trance almost at once, which was a good thing too, because she had just enough time to move out of the way of the flash of light which had burst from James Potter's wand.
"LILY ROSE EVANS!!" He screamed at her. "WHAT THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU DOING DOWN HERE!?!?" He continued very fluently in curse words as he came closer to her. But Lily stared defiantly into his eyes. Finally he stopped yelling, and sighed.
"Are you alright?" He asked. Lily nodded and then as if suddenly remembering something.
"That man! That was just here, he had the Carbonated Crystal," She said. The carbonated crystal was a powerful magical object which created its own energy source. It was very valuable. James didn't have the slightest idea what that was but several other aurors with him did. Most of them were cursing and asking questions like:
"What are they going to do with that?" "Shit, I suppose they're going to have another attack or create some weapon of mass destruction now," Etc.
"Are you sure?" A voice suddenly asked.
"Yes of course!" Lily said. "I know my famous magical objects. I had a huge test on them just recently." She said. The Ministry periodically made their workers take tests on certain things to make them more useful.
"If she's right we might all be screwed," Elizabeth said speaking for the first time. "And Lily usually is right. I think it was the crystal though, because I zoned out, you know, it seemed to draw me in, I couldn't keep my eyes off of it, and I could feel a pulse. Its energy is strong." She said.
~*~
When Lily, James, and Elizabeth arrived back at the ministry of magic Sirius, Harry, and Angie were nervously waiting for them.
"Oh thank god!" Angie cried when she saw them.
"What the hell is going on?" Sirius said.
"Are you hurt?" Angie asked.
"We're fine, but a lot of other people aren't," Lily said. She took Harry and held him close, glad to be able to hold her son. James kissed Harry on the forehead feeling very lucky to still be here to do so. "Karen McKinnon," Lily said softly looking at James. She shook her head. "She's dead, I saw her,"
"Oh god!" Angie said biting her lip. Sirius pulled her into a hug. For a moment Lily thought she was going to cry but she took a deep breath and continued.
"The carbonated crystal was stolen too,"
"And Lily almost got herself killed," James said sharply. Angie's eyes got wide.
"WHAT!?" She and Sirius exclaimed. Lily looked down at Harry.
"You can't have expected us to stay here!" Elizabeth shouted. "Just stay here and do nothing when all those people were being massacred. You're mad if you think we were just going to sit here and let it happen!" Sirius and Angie noticed her for the first time. For a split second they didn't recognize her, she had changed a great deal since they had last seen her.
She no longer had an air of young, naïve, and adventurous, but wiser, in charge, and important.
"You almost got yourselves killed trying to save others, which would have done us no good!" James countered.
"Oh Potter, I'm sure you were in some pretty close shaves today too, and you always are. This isn't just a man's work! Get off your horse and come down to earth, here it takes both talented wizards and witches to do the job, because men will always fuck something up," Elizabeth said angrily. She supported their decision to go into that bank. "Your wife isn't six god damn years old! She's a powerful witch, and you should respect that!" James's upper lip curled under in anger. He wanted to reply but held himself back… somewhat.
"If something were to happen to me, I'm just trying to make sure that Lily is still here to care for Harry. And I don't need to be worrying about her while I'm trying to do more pressing matters at hand." He said.
"Then don't worry about her, because she can handle it!"
"Apparently not, since you both would have been dead if I hadn't of showed up!"
"I! What the hell is with that, Mr. Cocky-High-Horse-Nose-In-The-Clouds! You, AND, a bunch of aurors! Not just YOU!" Elizabeth snapped.
"You still shouldn't have gone in there. You weren't authorized!" James said.
"Whatever, I know that you probably did save me today, so thanks, but I don't want to listen to any of your crap. I am needed back in Germany, so have a good day!" She said turning on her heel and marching away.
~*~
"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again," James said turning back to Lily.
"Excuse me but don't you ever tell me what to do!" She said angrily.
"I think you guys should just come home," Sirius said interrupting them.
"Yes, you're right," Lily agreed and home is where everyone went. But, not until she got home did Lily really realize the date.
"James? What is the date today?" She asked.
"The thirty-first," He said.
"It's Halloween," She whispered.
~*~
That night, Halloween night, several letters were sent to the Potter household. They were just concerned notes wanting to make sure they were still OK after the Gringotts thing today, including one from Dumbledore.
But an unexpected guest turned up outside. It was Matt McKinnon.
"Matt!" Lily exclaimed when she answered the door. "Come in," She said letting him into the house and then bolting the door behind him.
Matt looked pretty bad. He had been worrying all afternoon and had been down at the ministry waiting for answers for hours, but none came. Finally he decided to come to the Potters, not knowing what else to do. He sat down near the fire.
"Is something bothering you?" James asked his friend as Lily brought him a cup of tea.
"It's Kerrie," He said and Lily and James stiffened. "I haven't heard from her since this morning," He said. When they didn't say anything he continued. "She was supposed to go to the bank today," He said this very dryly and his eyes seemed to have gone out of focus, they weren't seeing anything in this room.
"I think she's…" He let his sentence hang for several long moments. "I've been at the ministry but they aren't telling me anything. Most survivors are still being questioned, but they aren't telling us who they've rescued and who they've carried out in a bag!" He exclaimed. Lily swallowed hard and looked at James.
With a deep breath James decided he better tell him. "Matt, Kerrie's dead," James told him solemnly. "She didn't make it," There was absolutely no reaction from Matt for the longest time.
"I know this is your house," He said suddenly, "But I would like to be left alone right now," James nodded to Lily and they sadly made their way upstairs.
~*~
Elizabeth Hoffenmeijer sent them a letter on pretty stationary that had German along the borders.
Dear Lily… and James too,
I'm sorry about Halloween; I just got a little carried away. I didn't mean to cause problems, but you know me, with my big mouth.
I can't talk much now and I wish I could have had a better look at Harry, but I just wanted to say I'm sorry for the way I acted, and I wanted to thank James… for saving my life.
See you next summer,
Liz
~*~
Lily seemed to be having one of those strange out of body experiences but actually she was just dreaming… again.
This dream was very strange though, possibly even rivaling the Slytherin dream. This time she and James were IN a mirror. *Strange… like this would ever happen!*
Both she and James were looking out of the mirror upon that same black haired boy she had seen before, or thought she had. He had James's glasses and her bright green eyes. A queer thought entered her mind. *Was this Harry?* They were just looking at each other.
Suddenly Lily became aware that she was crying. But she seemed to have no control over this, and she didn't know why she was crying, because she was most certainly still smiling too!
Surveying the other surroundings Lily supposed she was in Hogwarts, of course, she was dreaming. She had never seen this classroom before, but she was sure she was in that familiar castle. It was very strange…
When Lily woke up she shook herself. That was by far the strangest dream she had had, just for the simple fact that she was actually thinking things while she was dreaming…
*****End of chapter*****
A/N: Last chapter y'all didn't seem to like Harry's middle name being Dudley. Oh well, that will come into play in the sequel… So, I only got 7 reviews and that's not enough! Hello people! What happened to you? Y'all drop off the planet or something, or did you not like the chapter? Come on people, I need some more reviews!
But thank you very much to all of you who did review:
Hyper Princess (As always, luv ya very much girl!)
Ax (You know, just about everyone said something about Harry's names, but there was nothing about Kirsten, you were the only one! Lol!)
Genevieve (Sorry, I haven't figured out how to get accents on this computer…)
sCHEm (Didn't you hate that? Where you couldn't sign in? That pissed me off…)
Libertygrl413 (I finally started reading your story again, sorry about the wait…)
~*Crystal Lily*~
Chellee
Well, I'm sorry if I'm starting to rush a lot. It's really going to feel like it pretty soon, but I am REALLY close to the end (THREE MORE CHAPTERS!!!) I just wanted to apologize for generalizing half a year ahead of time! Nothing happens, I swear, nothing! Lol.
Talk to all you wonderful people next chapter!
~Star*dust
PS JINGLE BELLS!! (Don't take it personally…)