Pieces

After Lily stumbles upon a cursed first year in the corridor, it is a race against time to find out who attacked the boy. With more and more students cursed each day, will Lily be able to stop it before it's too late?

Lily tried to collect her thoughts as she approached the entrance to the hospital wing. She paused with her hand resting on the door handle and took a deep breath before pushing it open and entering the sterile, white room.

In all her years at Hogwarts, Lily had managed to keep her trips to the hospital wing to a minimum. Never in her trips, though, had she noticed just how quiet it was. Neither had she noticed the way that, even though the sun was shining in through the windows high up on the walls, it did little to cut through the heavy gloom that seemed to fall over everything.

Just as she was about to call out for the healer, she heard a quiet sigh followed by someone blowing their nose.

Lily's heart raced. He was awake!

She had come to the hospital wing to inquire after the boy she had found cursed in the corridor on her way to charms class only an hour before.

She turned towards the sound, and her hope immediately disappeared. It hadn't been the boy at all. It was the woman sitting at his bedside, holding his small, pale hand. Lily turned to leave, but stopped when the woman spoke up.

"H-hello?"

Lily tried her best to smile as she approached the woman. "Hello," she echoed back.

"It's just that…well, I noticed your badge. Are you the girl who…found him?" The woman asked as she wiped a stray tear from her face. "I'm so confused by all of this. I was just hoping that you could explain what happened."

"Yes…I did find him, ma'am. Maybe you better ask Madame –" Lily started, but the woman cut her off.

"She's in a meeting. With the headmaster."

Lily sighed and looked around the room. Sure enough, the office door was shut tight. "I'm afraid I don't know anything more than you do. I'm terribly sorry."

The woman nodded her head. "I understand. I'm just so confused about all of this. I mean, I get a letter telling me my son is a wizard, and just when I come to terms with that, a strange man pops – quite literally pops!- into my office while I'm in a meeting and tells me my boy is hurt and I need to come with him immediately –" The woman went on, and Lily stood awkwardly listening as the woman, whose eyes never left her son's face, continued to tell her story of how she came to be by his side.

"I'm sure that you've very confused and upset, ma'am," Lily said. "I can only imagine what it must be like. Neither of my parents are magical, so I'm sure that they would be just as confused if they were thrust into this place the way you were."

For the first time since her initial greeting, the woman looked up. "You're very kind. I'm afraid I don't remember your name, though."

Lily smiled. "Lily. Lily Evans."

"It's lovely to meet you, Lily Evans. I apologize. I get a little bit crazy about my son, sometimes. He's my only one you know. Professor Dumbledore said that you probably saved his life, finding him and getting him help like you did."

"Miss Evans?"

Lily spun around at the sound of her name and saw that Professor Dumbledore and Madame Pomfrey had finally left her office.

"Professor. Madame," Lily greeted, nodding her hello. "I was just…er. I was here to check on…"

"It's quite alright, my dear," Madame Pomfrey said, absently fluffing a pillow on an empty cot. "It's quite all right."

"Miss Evans. A word, please?" Lily nodded and made her way over to the old man. She turned and gave a small wave to the woman sitting with the boy, but her attention was already back to her son.

"Yes, Professor?"

"I would like to speak with you and Mr. Potter this evening. I have a few errands to take care of, however, I think 8 o'clock ought to give me plenty of time."

"Eight o'clock," Lily repeated, nervously fidgeting. "Right."

"And Miss Evans?" Lily looked up into the kind face of her headmaster. "Do be careful on your journey to the common room. I fear these halls are not as safe as they once were for you."

"I will, Professor. I'll see you this evening."

Lily checked her watch as she left the hospital wing for Gryffindor Tower. It was nearly four in the afternoon. Lily had a hard time believing that it had not even been two full hours since she was rushing late to Charms class. She walked quickly, her wand clutched tightly in her right hand as she made her way through the corridors and up the staircases that would take her to the common room.

"Lily!"

Lily stiffened and tightened her already tight grip on her wand. She swung her head around, and immediately let out the breath she had been holding. "James," she said, placing a hand over her beating heart. "You scared me."

"What are you doing out by yourself?" He demanded, his eyebrows knit with worry. "I thought you were going to go to the library with Marlene to do research, and then I ran into her in the common room a few minutes ago."

Lily shook her head. "I changed my mind. I went to the hospital wing instead. Let's get inside. We'll talk about it there," she said, motioning towards the portrait guarding the entrance to the common room just a few paces down the corridor from where they had found each other.

A few moments later, Lily and James were sitting in a secluded corner of the common room. As she retold the events that took place after she had left him in the classroom, she absently braided a few strands of her red hair.

"So, he wants to meet with us as eight?" James asked, leaning back in his seat.

Lily nodded her head and began to run her fingers through her hair to undo the small braids she had just put in it.

That evening, as they made their way to the headmaster's office, Lily and James walked quickly, peering through the gloomy corridors as though they were waiting for someone to pop out at them at any moment.

"Do you think I should tell him about that note?" Lily asked, her voice low as they neared the office.

"I can't see why not. He needs to know that there's a threat of this happening again," James said, shrugging his shoulders.

"He seemed to already think that it was a possibility. Remember what he said to me? The corridors weren't safe for me?"

"Lily…" James said sternly. He stopped walking and reached for her shoulder to stop her as well. He peered into her eyes and said, "He needs to know."

Lily sighed and nodded her head, "You're right."

After another moment of silence, they continued walking and mounted the stairs leading up to the headmaster's office. They paused at the top as James raised his hand and knocked lightly on the door and then waited for an answer.

"Come in, please," Professor Dumbledore called from inside the office. Lily and James exchanged a look and then opened the door and walked into the office.

After gesturing for his head students to take a seat, Dumbledore himself sat down behind the large wooden desk to face them.

"Professor," Lily asked, once he sat down. "How is he? How is Jake?"

The headmaster looked grave, though Lily could not read his face any further than that. "He has been taken to St. Mungo's this afternoon. Shortly after your visit."

James shot Lily a look, but she ignored it. She knew that he was still mad that she had wondered off on her own, but she could handle herself. She pressed the headmaster for more information, but did not give any.

Instead, he said, "While I understand that today has been rather upsetting, I must ask more of you."

Lily nervously bit her lip and wrung her hands in her lap. She knew that James was waiting for her to interrupt the Headmaster and tell him about the note, but that would be rude. She decided to wait.

"I only have two eyes and two ears, you see," Professor Dumbledore said, his eyes sad behind his glasses. "I need you to act in my place. I need you to soak up what you can and report it back to me. I need to know what is going on in this castle."

Lily nodded, not sure what exactly he wanted. James, however, spoke up. "Professor, what exactly do you need us to do?"

Dumbledore took a moment to collect his thoughts and then finally spoke. "A pensive is an intriguing thing, is it not?" He stood from his seat and Lily and James tracked his movement across the office with their eyes. He opened a cupboard and a strange glow lit his face.

Lily had read about a pensive once while doing research for a project, but had never really looked into any further. She knew that it stored memories, but that was all.

"Pensive," Lily said, more of a statement than a question.

"That's right Miss Evans. I trust you know what a pensive does?"

Lily began to answer, but James beat her to it. "It allows you to relive your memories. Well, whatever memory is extracted anyway."

Dumbledore nodded, and Lily sat quietly, trying to piece together the information. As usual, Dumbledore never quite came out and said anything.

"You want our memories," Lily said after another moment of thought. "You want us to report back with our memories?"

"I would," the headmaster said, nodding his head gently. "And I would also ask your permission to be the one to retrieve them myself. Risky business, retrieving memories when you're not used to it…"

Lily and James exchanged a look, but both nodded their heads. Lily was pretty sure it wasn't a question, and that Dumbledore merely asked out of politeness and formality.

"If you don't mind, Miss Evans." He looked pointedly at her and she swallowed hard.

She numbly walked over to her headmaster. He wouldn't hurt her, surely. She had no idea what to expect, however, because she had never had a memory extracted before. Dumbledore drew his wand as she approached him, and smiled kindly at her.

"Don't worry, my dead Head Girl. It is quite pleasant, actually," he said, as though reading her mind. She nodded and then closed the gap between them. Just as he was about to raise his want to her temple, though, she spoke up once again.

"Professor?" She asked, her voice sounding more timid that she would have liked. "Is it…Well, am I going to be able to remember these things after you, er, extract them?"

The headmaster let out a small chuckle. "Of course, Miss Evans. Now, do not fear. Simply think of the events of this afternoon and I'll be able to extract them."

Lily nodded slightly and glanced over at James who gave her a nod of encouragement. She took a deep breath and began to recall the events of the afternoon – rushing late to charms, finding the chaos in the charms corridor, the note left in the deserted classroom. She felt a slight tingle and a coolness rush through her, and she opened her eyes in time to see Dumbledore deposit a long, silvery string into the basin in the cabinet that was emitting the strange glow.

"Thank you, Miss Evans. Mr. Potter, if you please." Lily, relieved that her job was done, let out a breath she had been holding and headed back towards the chairs where she and James had been sitting moments before. As she passed James, he gave her a smile.

Later that evening, as Lily finally sat down in her bed, she felt as though she had run a marathon. It seemed like it had been a year ago that she had last been in the familiar, circular room. She glanced at her roommates, all busy with various tasks, and lay back against her pillows.

She couldn't help but feel that her privacy was being invaded. Didn't Dumbledore trust her to tell him the truth? Did he think that she would keep things from him?

For a moment, her mind went back to the conversation she had out in the hallway with James. Maybe he had heard. Maybe he knew that she was only going to tell him about the note because of James' insistence.

She shook her head and tried to clear out the images of a pale little boy in the hospital bed and the imploring eyes of his mother as she closed the curtains around her bed and drifted off into a fitful sleep that would turn out to be the best night's sleep she would get for some time.

Lily wasn't sure what had woken her first, the violent shaking she received, or her brain registering the meaning of "It's happened again, Lily," but she sat up bolt straight in bed and blinked a few times, trying to bring the faces around her into focus.

Mary MacDonald peered back at her, her hand still gripping Lily's shoulder firmly. "It's happened again. Get dressed!"

Lily jumped out of bed and got dressed, thought she could not quite recall doing either of those things. Her brain was already ten steps ahead of her.

"Where am I going, Mary?" Lily asked as she grabbed her wand and threw her hair into a ponytail.

"Great Hall."

Lily didn't wait for anymore information, she took off as fast as she dared to go down the stairs to the common room for fear of twisting her ankle and becoming useless. The common room was nearly empty, which seemed unusual. She hoped that people were still in bed, or already on their way to classes, not gathered in the Great Hall.

When she reached the entrance hall, she was nearly too winded from her trek down seven flights of stairs to ask questions. She saw the crowd gathered near the double doors leading into the Great Hall, and pushed her way through to the front.

"What's going on?" She asked, looking at the faces around her and then finally looking down. She gasped at what she saw. The girl laying on the floor, looking just as the first boy had looked, was a well known fourth year Hufflepuff named Stacy Hughes.

She, Lily knew, was a muggle born.

A/N: Hello! I had a day off today and I thought, what a better way to spend it than making cookies (Yum!) and writing this chapter (Yay!). Thanks to everyone who reviewed last time! I hope you enjoy this chapter, too :)