And the Trail Ran Cold

The following afternoon Harry, Ron, Hermione and Irlynn met in the library. Hermione's eyes bulged slightly at the stacks of newspapers sitting in several tables that had been pushed together. Ron's jaw dropped when he caught sight of everything.

"That's…a lot of papers," he murmured.

"It goes fast once you get used to it," Harry said and picked up the pile he'd been working on the last.

"Just…um pick a pile," Irlynn told the other two as she too sat down and began to look.

"What are we doing again?" Hermione asked.

"Looking at the obituary pages for the name Lily Evans," Irlynn answered, flipping to the page in her paper. Hermione gave a small nod and sat down, pulling a stack towards her.

They fell into silence rather quickly as each got into a groove, papers landing on the floor in record speeds. After a while, Irlynn looked up and stretched. Several older students were giving them strange looks as they passed by but no one said anything. Behind her, she heard a sigh and looked over her should to see Hermione setting her quill down.

"It gets tiring after a while," she said.

"Yeah…I think we should take a break…maybe go down to the kitchens for a snack," Irlynn suggested. Surprisingly, the mention of food did not deter either Harry or Ron from their task. So the two girls headed down without them.

"So what made you want to look for your birth Mum?" Hermione asked they walked.

"Over Christmas holiday, my parents told me I was adopted. I just…I want to know if she's still alive. Maybe find her and ask her why she gave me up," Irlynn answered.

"I'm sure she had a good reason," Hermione said.

"That's what my Mum and Dad said too," Irlynn said with a small half smile. They reached the kitchen and looked around.

"What do you suppose the boys want to eat?" Irlynn mumbled.

"Just get a little of everything. Ronald will just eat whatever is in front of him," Hermione snickered.

"Excuse me. Could we get a couple plates?" Irlynn called, catching the attention of a house elf.

"Yes Miss," he said and bowed his head before scurrying off.

Fifteen minutes later the girls snuck back into the library with four plates of food and set them down in the middle of the tables. The smell drew Ron from his task.

"Why didn't you say you were getting food?" he asked, reaching for a plate.

"Find anything?" Irlynn asked, ignoring his question.

"Not yet," Ron answered with a mouthful of food.

"Nothing in my pile either," Harry answered, stealing a cauldron cake off of a nearby plate.

"Well…isn't that a good thing?" Hermione asked as she sat down again, picking up her quill.

"I suppose. It means she didn't die in any of the years we've looked at so far," Irlynn mumbled.

"What year are you two looking at?" Hermione demanded of Harry and Ron.

"Uh…1984," Ron answered.

"I've got the end of 1983," Harry answered.

"I think I'll look at 1982 then," Irlynn said, pulling that stack towards her.

"I'll look through 1981," Hermione sighed ad picked up the top paper on that stack. She flipped through to the pages to find the obituaries for the first date in January.

Once more the quartet fell into silence as they searched through their respective years. Harry had to kick Ron in the shin to wake him up. Ron gave a grunt and rubbed at hiss eyes.

"I can't see straight," he complained. Hermione looked up at the clock above his head and sighed.

"It's almost nine. We have potions early tomorrow," she said and stood up. Ron followed suit.

"Thank you so much for your help," Irlynn said.

"I finished January through March of 1981," Hermione added as she tried to organize the discarded papers.

"I finished 1984," Ron added and the two headed out of the library.

"I'm almost done with 1983," Harry told Irlynn.

"Ok. Do you think you could finish '82 and I'll pick up on '81?" Irlynn asked, rubbing at her eyes.

"Sure," Harry agreed and they rearranged piles.

"What are you going to do if she's still alive?" Harry blurted some time later. He'd moved on to the second half of 1982 by then.

"I'm not sure. I mean….what if she doesn't know who I am?" Irlynn answered, tossing the last paper in September 1981 to the ground.

"I think she would want to know you," he mumbled more to himself. Irlynn blushed a little at his comment.

"Thanks, Harry," she said and picked up the October 1st paper.

"Well there's nothing in here. Do you want me to take 1980?" he asked.

"Sure. I mean Ii was born in 1980…but maybe she died after she had me?" the girl muttered. Harry just picked up the pile and started looking through it.

It was almost ten o'clock when Harry set the last paper. He hadn't noticed that Irlynn was just staring at one page and had been doing so for the last fifteen minutes.

"You find something" he asked, finally taking note of her eyes glued to page.

"I'm not sure," she murmured. She shifted the page to show him.

"There is someone name Lily on here…but the last name isn't Evans," she said, pointing to the name. It jumped out at Harry and he had to catch hiss breath. It read 'Lily Potter'. He had to swallow a couple times before he could make his vocal cords work properly.

"That….that's my Mum," he choked out. Irlynn's eyes grew large as well.

"I…I'm really sorry," she said.

"It's ok. You didn't know," he told her.

"I…didn't find anything in 1980," he muttered, trying to fill the awkward silence that had engulfed them.

"So that means she could still be alive," Irlynn said, trying to sound hopeful.

Neither of them heard the footsteps that approached them until a voice spoke.

"Mr. Potter, Miss McQuillen," Professor McGonagall called. The two first years looked up and both glanced at the clock. It was a little after ten and both let out a groan.

'We're sorry, Professor," Irlynn said.

"I think it will be alright. You're not out too late," Minerva said, sitting down across from them, having to push a couple papers out of the way.

"Thank you," Harry said. He didn't need detention again especially with the Quidditch game coming up so quickly.

"Did you find anything?" the Gryffindor Head of House asked.

"Not exactly. We found…Harry's Mum and Dad," Irlynn muttered.

"But not the person we were looking for," Harry added. Minerva gave Harry a sympathetic look.

"Well…who were you looking for?" Minerva asked. Neither student gave an answer at first. It wasn't that they didn't trust McGonagall…they were just unsure of whether their findings were a good thing or not.

"Well...we were looking for a Lily Evans," Irlynn finally said.

"And my Mum's name was the only name that even resembled that one," Harry added. Minerva looked between the two children and had to take a couple deep breaths to keep her composure. Luckily, neither Harry nor Irlynn noticed the professor's momentary lapse of breathing.

"Why were you looking for Lily Evans?" the professor pressed.

"She…is my birth Mum," Irlynn answered.

"I think you two need to com with me," she said and stood up abruptly.

"What's wrong Professor?" Irlynn asked, starting to gather paper.

"Leave the papers," Minerva ordered. Madam Pince had overheard the command and also fixed the woman with an unsure look.

"I'll…take care of them," Madam Pince said. Harry and Irlynn silently followed McGonagall to her office.

"Please sit down," she said. They dutifully took seats and watched as Minerva rushed from the room. Irlynn leaned over and whispered in Harry's ear even though they were alone.

"Do you notice whenever we do something…Professor's do that…they just disappear," she whispered. Harry just nodded.

Minerva navigated the corridors as quickly as her legs would allow and reached the stone gargoyle out of breath. She collected herself and gave the password, climbing the spiral staircase until she reached the door at the top. She knocked and walked in. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, reading over some papers.

"How can I help you, my dear?" he asked, looking up to see McGonagall standing there.

"Albus…are you aware of what Mr. Potter and Miss McQuillen have been doing?" she asked.

"No. I am not. Is something wrong?" Dumbledore asked, that trademark twinkle in his blue gaze.

"They were looking through old newspapers, looking to see if Miss McQuillen's birth mother had died," Minerva said.

"I see," Dumbledore began but Minerva cut him off.

"They were looking for Lily Evans," she interrupted. Albus just stared at her for a moment before getting up and moving to a shelf near the doorway. He opened it and began to flip through. Minerva took over, knowing its organization better than he did.

"When is Miss McQuillen's birth date?" he asked. Minerva found it and looked up.

'Thirty-first of July, 1980," she replied.