Chapter 12
They rushed back to the house to fill in the two Gryffindor girls all they had learnt.
James Potter and Sirius Black apparated straight into their library expecting to find their two friends, Lily Potter and Ava Saunders, sat in various positions reading over mountains of notes and planning ways to get hold of new information to aid their 'search and rescue mission'. They however were dumbfounded to see the library empty. The boys set out in a rush to find the two girls and share with them the valuable information they had learnt just moments ago.
They were relieved to see them both in the kitchen. Ava was sat upon the counter swinging her legs, laughing at something Lily had just said before they had entered. Lily was stood next to her best friend and looked to be making a couple of smoothies for themselves. The two girls turned to take in the two boys and laughed at their abrupt entrance.
"You two all right there?" Ava asked smiling at them with wide, happy eyes and flushed cheeks. Sirius was the first to react. He pulled himself together, straightened himself out and stood up tall. He then wiped the look of shock off his face. And spoke to James.
"Look here, my dear Prongs. We gentlemen have been out working tirelessly all day long and come home to these two.. two children prancing around! Ridiculous is what I would describe it as"
"My good Padfoot I must agree with you. What do you children have to say for yourselves?" Answered James keeping up Sirius' pompous persona.
"Fancy a smoothie? Your Mum said it was all right for us to make them." Offered Lily tilting her glass up at them. James and Sirius Laughed at them. The former walked over to his girlfriend and pulled her into a tight, warm, bone crushing hug. Afterwards he titled her head up and kissed her.
Their two friends waited a moment before interrupting them. Sirius cleared his throat to draw their attention away from mashing their lips together.
"We actually have stuff to tell them prongs, so if you'd mind not snogging dear little Lily's face off, I'd be most thankful." Sirius remarked.
Hearing this Lily pulled herself away from James at looked up at Sirius, her face showing a clear sign of her embarrassment.
"You've got something to tell us?" Lily asked looking directly into his eyes, pretending not to be embarrassed. But her vivid red blush and her nervous lip biting told a different story. Sirius barked a low laugh at her and began telling her and Ava all they had learnt whilst he and James were at the Hogs Head.
The two girls listened carefully to Sirius' story and didn't interrupt him. By the end of his tale Ava was pacing the kitchen, mind racing ahead of her and Lily was sat down, hand covering her mouth, in shock. James was stood behind her rubbing slow, calming circles into her shoulders.
There was, then, a very long and eerily, stretched out moment of silence.
"Okay, okay" Ava began slowly. "So you're telling me, us, that you listened to a conversation between a couple of funny looking men about 'them'- meaning Death Eaters- and you believe, they are now actually capturing muggles and could, could be holding them in a small cottage on the Moors. Did I get that right?" She asked sceptically.
"Yes. South of the Moors to be more specific." Sirius replied simply. Ava glared at him for his remark.
"We have to check the place out." Lily stated as if she were answering a simple question in class. Lily's remark caused everyone in the Potters kitchen to spin around and gawk, with their mouths open in shock, at her. Lily was not the type to condone reckless or stupid behaviour. In fact she was considered to be one of the strictest Prefects at Hogwarts- that she was proud of- What she had said was more to be expected to have come from Ava or Sirius not Lily Evans.
"What? What is everyone looking at? It's the truth, isn't it? We have to at least check the place out. If there are any Death Eaters in there and no muggles we wont go in, we can just call for the Aurors. If we know for certain, only then, we go in. But if there are any muggles in there I will go in. Even with a slim chance of any muggles being in there we cannot sit back and do nothing!" Lily insisted.
James' disapproval was clear to see on his face and he also voiced his opinion too.
"Lily stop. That's stupid and dangerous. You are not going off into the middle of nowhere to stake out a cottage that could or could not be home to psychopathic Death Eaters holding muggles against their will. And also Ava's family might not be don't know if they are. It's too risky. No. You, you, just can't."
"James, do not try to argue this one with me. I am going that's final. And anyway I'm not going on my own. We are all in this thing together, right? It's not as if I'm looking for a fight anyway, I'm looking for muggles. Simple, not so harmful muggles. Plus I have a plan." She said with such determination that all James could do was shake his head at her with his jaw clenched in anger and disapproval.
Ava, Sirius and James all drew around Lily to listen to her plan. Lily's plan was simple and quite frankly it seemed as if it could almost work.