Chapter 68: Rescue Team
"So we are using Remus traveling back time ability where we can follow Lily and James??" Stefanie repeated. Dumbledore had just told them his idea on how they can track where Lily and James would end up and traveled back so they would find out where their hideout was.
"Yes. This seems the most feasible solution." King Triton agreed.
"We won't let Remus go alone." Sirius said. "I'll go with him."
"We will all go together." Arabella said, joining hands with Stefanie.
"I believe you all have the ability to do things we can't imagine of." Dumbledore smiled and winked at them. "Remember, don't do anything rash. Come back first so we can discuss further plans."
"Yes, sir." The four agreed.
"We need the bubblehead charm." Stefanie reminded. Now the four bubble-headed teens held hands tightly with one another and closed their eyes.
Remus concentrated very hard and traveled back time into the Undersea City. They had to reach the period whereby the five of them were drugged and Lily was wondering by herself.
Wooossshhh!!
They ended up in front of the castle. From their hidden place, they saw Lily swimming out from one of the ledges in the castle.
Sirius pointed upwards and the group moved forward from the bottom, keeping an eye on Lily.
"Wait!!" Remus held out his hands to prevent them from moving forward. At some distance away, they saw the present day James, Sirius and Remus in fish tail swimming towards the castle, carrying a basket along with them.
"We can kill the mermen who gave us that dung." Sirius attempted to swim forward but held back by Arabella and Stefanie whilst Remus blocked his way.
After the tailed-James, Sirius and Remus swam into the castle; they quickly swam forward to keep an eye of Lily. Lily was now talking to a blue and yellow fish.
"A talking fish??" Sirius talked in his bubble. After that Lily swam along with the fish for some time, she stopped to talk to someone below her. Then she continued swimming through the corals and buildings and fishes.
"She's going there." Stefanie pointed at a darker part of the sea but there were shiny stuffs, which seemed to attracted Lily's attention. From their angle, they noticed that there were several mermen at the corner appearing to be eyeing Lily closely.
"They're the ones who gave us the food, right??" Sirius asked Remus. Though unable to hear him, Remus had understood what Sirius was asking and nodded.
"James, how do you think we would escape from this place??" Lily asked. They had tried every possible charm and spell to hit different parts of the wall but it refused to bulge.
"Frankly I don't have any more idea than you do." James admitted. They were mentally tired after brainstorming all the unsuccessful solutions.
"Actually we know we're going to die in Voldemort's hands some day, it's not surprising this is the time."
"Not possible. We don't have Harry yet." James said absentmindedly and tried to look at the topless room. What other ways can we escape?? Top?? Fly?? Lily blushed upon the statement but kept quiet. "Are there any charms that can make us fly??"
"Huh?? Er.." Lily racked her brains trying to remember any possible charms that make them float and fly. "Pardon me for being stupid, but I don't have any recollection of charms that we were taught that can make us fly or float besides the dear old Wingardium Leviosa. What makes you think there's an exit from the top??"
"Then how about the untaught ones??" James asked, apparently not hearing Lily's question.
"Actually I think there's one, but it's kinda complicated and I didn't learn it by heart."
"Shall we try??"
"I would rather not. No confidence about it."
"So we wait here for the rest to come and rescue us??"
"I'm sure they will. I trust them."
"I trust them too. But the longer we stay the more dangerous everything is going to be."
"I know. Now we're left with hope." Lily gave a weak smile.
"Look!!" Stefanie pointed. A group of mermen were advancing towards Lily.
As much as they wanted to save Lily at that point of time, they knew it was unwise to mess with time. So all they could do was watch the helpless Lily got knocked unconscious and carried away.
They let the kidnappers swam forward with Lily floating unconsciously in the middle. They had to swim faster because the mermen, having tails, were traveling at a much higher speed than them. But at the same time they had to hide from them behind the rocks and corals.
"Where are we??" Arabella asked, frowning. The only response was from Stefanie who gave a shrug because they had moved so far from their original spot until they lost the way.
"They are swimming upwards." Remus pointed at the group who were moving upwards. From their distance, they swam upwards, keeping a close eye on Lily.
"Deatheaters." Sirius said. When the group of mermen reached the shore, their tails became legs again and they magicked Lily floating along in their middle.
"Let's go." Remus said. The four ran towards the nearest tree and hid behind while watching the group of black-cloaked Deatheaters moving further and further from the shore.
"Where could they be going??" Stefanie whispered barely audible.
"Volcano's hideout??" Sirius answered.
"Let's move along." Remus said, the group moved silently among the trees.
"This is the time when invisibility charm is really needy." Arabella muttered.
"If we can do it, they can do it too." Stefanie pointed out.
"I know, but, well, never mind. Let's go." Arabella said and followed the two guys closely.
"What deserted place is this??" Sirius asked quietly. The place they saw was a dilapidated house standing in the middle of the forest. The whole place looked so gloomy and there was an evil aura around which made them shivered, both out of cold and creepiness.
"Look!! Those Deatheaters are coming out again." Arabella pointed out.
"We better head back to report to Dumbledore." Stefanie said. They held their hands tightly together and closed their eyes.
Remus, once again, concentrated on Dumbledore's office. It was not as difficult as traveling to other places because he had been time traveling around Dumbledore's office for over a year already.
"Professor!!" They screamed.
"Calm down and tell me what happened." Professor Dumbledore made the group calmed down and Sirius started narrating the whole story of what they saw while the rest filled in the details.
"So it's indeed Voldemort." Dumbledore frowned. "Right now, we shall go to the place together."
"I'll go with you all." King Triton offered.
"But this time we can only go unless we're sure James had already been captured." Dumbledore pointed out.
"We can wait there, can't we??" Stefanie suggested.
"Yes, so the plan is one we know James is captured, then we shall enter."
"Not so soon. He might not have them locked up yet." Dumbledore reasoned. "We should have a time lapse of about half an hour."
"When I talked to Lily I think about two hours had passed since they were captured."
"This particular room appeared to be harder to enter than I expected."
"I'm quite sure it was filled with dark charms. Lily mentioned that they had did all sort of jinxes and hexes and nothing worked."
"But how did they enter in the first place??"
"Hey, so if we can get out of here safely, will you go on a - date with me??" James asked casually though he was trying to find the right words to ask. Finally I asked. There was no response from Lily. "Lily??" He turned and faced a sleeping Lily once again.
She's asleep again. James was disappointed. He had tried to ask the most awkward question in the worst situation and she, had snoozed off. He moved closer to her and gently placed her head on his right shoulder and left it there. Meanwhile he was fighting off the urge to sleep, with Voldemort lingering around, it would never be safe to close their eyes.
This place is so silent; I can't hear anything besides Lily's breathing. Where could we be??
"Hmm.." Lily stirred beside him continued napping.
Trust Lily to sleep when danger is lurking around. James smiled as he looked at Lily's sleeping face.
Minutes tickled by slowly. James was staring aimlessly at the empty room; ideas were running dry and energy running out.
"James??" Lily called out sleepily. Her head was still lying on James' right shoulder.
"Huh??"
"How long had we been here??"
"I don't know. Perhaps three hours??"
"It felt like so long." Lily said without much energy.
"Are you alright??" James placed his hand on Lily's forehead.
"I'm fine. Just feeling a little weak."
"Your forehead is so hot!!" James exclaimed anxiously. "You're running a fever!!"
"I think so." Lily said, still with her eyes closed. "I'm feeling the symptoms."
"Can you heal yourself??"
"I don't have the energy to."
"Better get some sleep then." James tore a bit of his dirtied white tee shirt and transfigured it into a blanket, and then he covered Lily with it.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it." James said softly. "Are you sure you are comfortable like that??"
"Yes, it's ok. Thanks."
"You don't look comfortable, how about my lap??" James offered and patted his muscular thighs.
"Ok. Thanks." Lily shifted and now her head was resting on James' right thigh. Within a few minutes, she fell asleep once again.
James pulled up the transfigured blanket onto her neck and made sure it had covered Lily's entire body.
Hmm.. this place isn't too hot or too cold. It's of room temperature. James tried to analyze the situation since he had nothing better to do besides looking at Lily. Maybe that isn't a wall at all. A magical illusion. James frowned as he thought of that possibility. What could be used to deal with such illusions??
"Professor, how are we going to enter??" Sirius spoke softly. Remus had just transported them back to where Lily and James were held captives in the dilapidated house, which stood in the middle of the dark eerie forest.
"Voldemort would definitely have dark enchantments all around. I won't be surprised that he had felt our presence by now." Dumbledore said grimly.
"There are so many of us, we won't lose to him and his Deathies." Sirius said boldly.
"Let's enter it the same way as the other Death – Deathies enter." King Triton said, slightly amused at the way Sirius had called the Deatheaters.
"Wands ready??" Dumbledore reminded the four teenagers. "Don't forget to use your powers as well."
"Yes, sir." The four teens chorused with determination to rescue their two friends.
"Let's go then." Dumbledore instructed and the six headed towards the entrance of the run-down house.
"How are you feeling??" James asked softly. Lily was still lying on his lap, which was already numbed.
"I'm fine." Lily replied feebly, barely awake and opened her eyes.
"Better get back to sleep." James said gently, touching Lily's messy red hair, which was scattered on his lap.
"Ok."
If this is really a magical disillusion, I can't tell Lily, Voldemort is bound to hear the conversation and make it even more difficult for them to rescue us.
"Till we meet again." Voldemort's voice echoed in the room. They had just entered the deceiving dilapidated house into a large room and came face-to-face with Voldemort and his crew of Deatheaters. Besides verbal war, there was no damage done on either side. Voldemort and his Deatheaters had apparated off, knowing that they were of no fight with Dumbledore and King Triton.
"Professor, how are we going to rescue them??" Stefanie asked anxiously. They saw Lily and James in a small cubical glass-like casing on the wooden table at the center of the room.
"This is more difficult than we thought." Arabella said in a worried tone. Lily and James were enclosed in the tiny glass-like box, which was about thirty by thirty centimeters.
"This is the disillusion box." Dumbledore said in forbidding tone.
"What is a disillusion box??" Remus asked.
"It's a rare box that evil wizards used to hold their captives." Stefanie explained. "It will let them have a made-belief that they're in a room or something while the captor watch them from outside without them knowing what's going on."
"And how do we rescue them from inside??" Sirius asked.
"In order to open the box, one of us has to give up our magical ability." Arabella answered.
"WHAT??" Sirius and Remus exclaimed. Arabella and Stefanie looked at each other and nodded.
"They're right." Dumbledore said sadly. "The creator of this box had made it this way in hoping that it would not land in the wrong hands. And unfortunately some of them did."
"Most of them had been destroyed by the Ministry centuries ago but some had been hidden and remained in existence." Arabella looked at Dumbledore and then back to her friends.
"I never did expect Voldemort would own one of this." Dumbledore shook his head.
"So what happen to the person who give up their magical ability??" Remus asked.
"The person would be no different from a squib. Can't perform magic at all." Stefanie said softly. The silence among them was deafening.
"Yes, and that would be me." Arabella said. She exchanged a knowing look with Stefanie.
"No, I'll do it." Sirius spoke out.
"I'll do it. I'll be better off as a squib." Remus called out.
"NO, Remus, I do it."
"I do it."
"You can't."
"Why not??"
"You're going to be a Professor while I'm going in Azkaban."
"That's off the point."
"Stop!!" Dumbledore said, shutting the two boys immediately. Sirius and Remus turned to face Dumbledore immediately. "Listen to what Arabella has to say."
"I'll be the one to do this. Though I'm going to be a squib, I'll not lose contact with the magical community. You'll see what I mean as the time goes by." Arabella spoke while the rest listened to her. "My ability can't come in use when fight Volcano and his Deathies. You guys have the most amazing powers, all I could do is nothing but foretell the future." Stefanie gave her an encouraging squeeze on her shoulders. "I'll use my powers to rescue Lily and James who will give birth to a boy who will save us all from Voldemort. He's the one to end it all. I'm just part of the whole thing in Volcano's defeat. So let me do what I'm supposed to do."
"But Bell, we don't want you to lose your magical ability." Sirius pointed out.
"I'm sure you don't want to lose yours either."
"With a family like mine, it doesn't really matter."
"What about your uncle?? He had his hopes on you. You can't let him down."
"You can't let Professor Plain down either, you're her only daughter."
"She won't. She will tell me that this is the right thing to do."
"She isn't even here."
"She is my mother."
"Please, don't argue at a time like this." Remus stopped the arguing pair once again. "How about we bring this box back to Hogwarts??"
"We can't." Dumbledore said. "Moving the box will only hurt the people inside."
"Let's not waste time." Arabella spoke up. "Lily doesn't look well inside." They turned to look at Lily, whose head was on James' lap and he was caressing her hair.
"Lily, your forehead is burning." James said worriedly.
"I'm fine." Lily mumbled unconvincingly.
"Don't keep saying you're fine when you're not!!" James said in a louder voice than usual.
"Sorry. But I don't want you to be worried or something."
"Sorry. Do you know high fever can burn off memories??"
"I know. You'll forget some stuffs right??"
"I don't want you to forget me again."
"Actually I already remembered our past that time when I was hit by the surfboard."
"You did??"
"Yeah, sort of."
"Really??"
"I heard your voice ringing in my head. Old memories flashed across my mind while I was in the water."
"Why didn't you tell me earlier??"
"Aren't we already good friends without the old memories??"
"Yes, but still, I want to know you remembered me."
"I won't forget you, don't worry."
"So you don't like Remus anymore??"
"Huh??"
"Remus well, kinda told me that you had a crush on him after you forgot about me. Er.. Stef told him."
"Argh.. It was just a passing remark."
"That's great."
"What??"
"Nothing."
"Ok."
"They'll be here soon."
"I hope so."
"Bell." Stefanie held Arabella's hand as she held out her wand pointing at the disillusioned box.
"Don't worry, Stef." Arabella put on her usual smile rather forcefully. "I'll be alright." Stefanie loosened her grip from Arabella's hand and stepped backwards to join where Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore and King Triton stood.
A large purple spark shot out from Arabella's wand and hit the disillusioned box. The purple light was so blinding that they had to shield their eyes.
"What's that light??" Lily asked, trying to open her eyes in the glaring light.
"I don't know." James said in a strained voice. He carried Lily into his arms and held her tight.
"Lily.." Arabella called out weakly. She dropped her wand on the floor and fell backwards. Sirius dashed forward and caught her just before she fainted.
"BELL!!" Stefanie ran forward to support her friend. "Wake up."
"Professor, is she alright??" Sirius asked apprehensively.
"She fainted out of exhaustion." Dumbledore held Arabella's hand up.
"Not in danger or anything??"
"Don't worry." Dumbledore looked down at Arabella's perspiring face.
"Let's get out of here." King Triton said urgently.
"Hold hands." Remus called out. The group came together to join James and Lily and they held each other hands tightly. With the usual spinning, they ended up back in Dumbledore's office within a minute.
"Take them to the hospital wing." Dumbledore told Remus and Stefanie. The six teens left Dumbledore's office and made their way towards the infirmary in their fastest speed with James and Sirius carrying Lily and Arabella respectively. Luckily it was late in the night, no one was around the corridors, and they were able to reach Madam Pomfrey without many obstacles.
"Madam Pomfrey!!" Stefanie and Remus
shouted into the hospital wing.
"Ssshhhh!!" Madam Pomfrey came running out in her nightwear looking groggy. "My patients are -"
"Please help them!!" Stefanie pleaded.
"Come in, come in. Go straight to the last two beds." Madam Pomfrey instructed. A couple of other patients were awakened from the noise and Madam Pomfrey shooed them back to sleep again, drawing their dividing curtains again. "What happened??" She asked the four conscious teens in a low voice.