Chapter 6 - The Apartment

'Here we are!' sung Hilaria. 'Apartment, sweet apartment!'

Lily and Albus stepped out of the elevator and walked into the large flat that would be their home until the Games began. Johanna and Blight walked out behind them, sighing.

'I remember my first time here,' said Johanna. 'I suppose the fact I'm here again proves it's possible to live through the games.'

Lily and Albus said nothing. They just followed Hilaria to the large table in the middle of the room, looking as though it could collapse under the weight of all the food on it. The apartment was beautiful, so beautiful it was easy to forget what the Hunger Games were all about. Some people stood silently around the apartment, seemingly they were servants. The District 7 crew all sat around the table, Lily and Albus sitting together. Lily still hadn't forgot about the six tributes she saw that seemed to be in an alliance and would hope someone would have the answers.

'So,' said Johanna. 'Any questions?'

'Yes,' Lily said automatically. 'I saw a group of tributes that seemed to be an in an alliance. Are alliances good?'

'Ah,' said Blight. 'I'm pretty sure you just saw the Career Tributes. Those are the tributes that see being reaped as a privilege. They train all year then volunteer as tributes, hoping that they'll win and get bathed in riches.'

With that, Blight started helping himself to what looked like a massive roast chicken.

'Wait!' said Antonius. Everyone else at the table rapidly turned to him, expecting him to share his discovery of a bomb inside the chicken. Albus had hurt his neck in the rush to see Antonius and was now rubbing it, wincing.

'What?' asked Marina.

'Shouldn't we say grace?' Antonius replied.

Silence fell across the whole room, to be broken by Hilaria's maniacal laughter. She turned, still laughing, to Blight, then Marina, then Lily, and back to Antonius. She was slamming her hand down on the table as if she was trying to press a button that would stop her from dying of laughter. Then, she slipped of her chair. She got up, silently, and sat back down, only to resume her cackling fit.

'What is so funny?' demanded Antonius.

'Grace?!' shrieked Hilaria. 'As in praying? You can really think there's some being answering your prayers?!'

Antonius stood up, looking like he could kill Hilaria. He grabbed the gravy pot off the table and tossed the contents over Hilaria. She screamed.

'YOU MONSTER!' she cried, as she tried to claw out his throat. Albus had gotten out of his seat and pulled Lily away. Johanna and Blight both got up to escort Lily and Albus to their bedrooms.

'Don't worry, you'll get fed,' Johanna reassured them. 'Right after those two have been separated.'

Lily sat on her bed and Albus sat on her left, waiting for the fighting to stop. Albus put his arm around Lily as he had done several times before. Lily felt strange, as though there was a large, empty nothingness on her right side.

'How do you think James is doing?' Lily asked.

'I'm sure he's alright, with all the teachers to care for him. He'll be just fine.'

'I had a feeling that something was wrong with him, not long ago.'

Then it clicked for Albus. James had told Albus what the Capitol where planning to do as punishment to him for attacking the Peacekeepers, but he hadn't told Lily. Albus presumed he shouldn't tell her either.

'As I say,' he replied, 'he'll be getting looked after.'

After a while, Johanna came in to tell them that Hilaria and Antonius where away. Hilaria was staying with her friend who was the District 4 escort and Antonius was away for a coffee by himself. They sat back down at the table and helped themselves to food. It had all be reheated and looked lovely. They did not ask any questions, they just wanted to eat then go to sleep. Being tired would not be helpful on the first day of training. They ate until they were full, said goodnight and then went back to their own rooms to sleep. Lily stared out the window as she lay in her bed. Her mind seemed more active than ever. She thought of Scorpius, and how he supposedly fancied Rose Weasley. Lily wondered if Rose fancied him back, but knew that recent events would certainly have broken any bridges between them. Sometimes Lily wished she was in Rose's year, as long as Hugo was too. She thought it would be fun with Albus and Rose.

Then something clicked. Scorpius was in Albus and Rose's year. He was fifteen. McGonagall told Snow that he was 13, that's why Lily's name was in for the reaping. How could she not have noticed? If he was 13 he would have been in her year with Hugo. Was McGonagall just getting old and forgetful? Lily tried to stop herself blaming her; she knew McGonagall didn't want anyone to be reaped. Then she wondered if Scorpius had tried to place the Imperius Curse on McGonagall to make the reaping fairer in his opinion. Lily then ruled it out; there was no way Scorpius could manage an Unforgivable Curse, especially on a mind like McGonagall's. Soon, after a while of pondering if 'Imperiused' was the correct term, Lily fell asleep and started to dream of home.

Her dream was rudely interrupted by sunlight pouring in the window. She tried to continue it, but just couldn't get back to sleep. She got up, and just started preparing for training. No one else was awake; training wasn't for a while yet. Lily showered, and then dressed herself in the training outfit that had been left for her. She came across some recordings of the reapings that had been left with a post-it note bearing the message 'Watch me'. Lily guessed they had been left by Johanna. Lily took them through to her room and started to watch them. The first clip was from District 1. A small girl was reaped, only for a tall, blonde girl to volunteer in her place. She revealed her name to be Angora, as in the type of wool. She was quite a pretty girl, with big blue eyes that seemed to stare into Lily's for a while. Then, the name of a rather tall boy with sandy hair was called, yet again, only to be replaced. This time, the volunteer was a blond boy, just a bit taller than Angora, who shook hands with the sandy-haired boy when he passed him. His name was Dynamo, and he constantly flicked his hair to the side even when it wasn't necessary. Next, District 2. The order of events was much the same. The female volunteer, Olida, had long black hair and emerald green eyes. There was something snake-like about her smile, and Lily knew from her relatives' experiences that snake-like people were not to be trusted. The male volunteer, Marcus, had short, golden hair and Lily was pretty sure she saw him wink in the direction of the girls. Next, District 3. There where no volunteers, just a small, dirty-blonde haired girl called Hayley and a medium height boy with short black hair and sticky out ears called Cole. Then it was District 4, and back to volunteering. The female was probably just a bit smaller than Olida and had dark brown hair and eyes to match. She revealed her name to be Kristen. Her male counterpart had spiky black hair and looked shorter than Dynamo or Marcus. Lily has just started watching the District 5 reaping when Albus walked in, all dressed and ready for training.

'Oh, you're up,' he said.

'I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep,' Lily replied.

'Well, everyone's up now. Coming for breakfast?'

Lily considered saying she had already ate something, then thought otherwise when she realized how hungry she was now. She sat next to Albus, ate, talked about the usual things with Johanna and Blight, then they all headed off to training.