Lily was working on the door again, this time sporting a bruise or two. Mumbling she became more determined than ever. For the second time in too short of a time she had woken up in that dusty room. Back to square one…
The fear, desperation and hope that she had harbored before had melted away leaving nothing but pure anger. Before she had been upset that she couldn't open the door, now she was damn straight outraged.
"Open damn you!" With a decided click the door swung ajar. Blinking she wondered if she might have been hallucinating but soon it dawned on her that this time it was real. A draft greeted her tired face through the gap and she thought she might faint with joy.
Once she had reassured the young girl that she would be back she gingerly left the room and cautiously wandered about looking for something that she could use to her advantage.
Lily had always prided herself in being level headed and calm in times of crisis. In truth underneath the cool façade she had never been as calm or collected while everyone panicked. And right now she was dismayed at how rapidly her calm was falling to pieces. She was in some sort of kitchen and as she quickly searched for some kind of weapon from drawer to drawer the bones in her legs were slowly jellifying.
By any standard of law or combat, a butcher's knife qualified as a weapon but the shaky uncertain grip with which she held the wooden handle proved that she wouldn't be able to use it on anything more responsive than Sunday roast. Despite that, instinct told her she might need it and she tucked it into the waistband of her skirt at an angle hoping that her instinct wouldn't lead her to accidentally stab herself.
Besides using a knife meant that you had to be in close contact with the enemy. Assuming she might have to thump anyone to get Rebecca out of that room or kick David's ass personally, Lily definitely preferred to thump and kick from a distance, preferably with a rifle on a roof far away.
But at the end of the day, a pantry was a pantry and there wasn't a colorful armory for her to casually select a weapon with the greatest punch and range at leisure. The heaviest weapon on the shelves were cans of baked beans. Convinced that the world couldn't hate her that much Lily went on searching until she discovered that the owner of the kitchen had apparently been plagued by an ant problem. With a faint "ah" a flash of inspiration hit her.
-
"She's in there." Tatty informed as she fluttered down. Once she had gotten over her disappointment in James she had redirected their route to where she claimed Lily was.
Darkness sucked in moonlight on the bottom floor of the large Victorian House but more than a few of the windows on the second floor were well lit. Someone was definitely home. James stood there cloaked in darkness and surveyed the top floor with an absorbent gaze. The lonely house was large; he counted four large bay windows and concluded that given the irregular shape of the house there would be at least two more giving a total of six large rooms on the second floor. Two of the windows were lit up brightly and these were most likely occupied.
It was a big house, but not big enough for no one to notice his entry if he broke a window. He wanted to avoid using magic if he could because that would alert the Ministry to his whereabouts and he would be dragged back to Hogwarts before he could do anything. James wrapped the Invisibility Cloak around himself tighter and headed for the house.
Tatty swooped after him. "How are you going to get in."
"Through the door." James replied.
"What?" Tatty's smooth flight hiccuped as she reacted in surprise.
"They won't be expecting people to try to walk in through the door." James explained. "I bet they've triggered the house. One wave of the wand and all alarms will go off."
"So you're just going to walk in?" The owl shook her head.
"Yeah, that's the way Muggles do it." James said. In all honesty he hadn't expected it to be that simple. He'd expected alarms and lights to flare out the second he stepped foot through the door. In fact, he had been so sure that something would happen that he almost had a heart attack when nothing but the sound of a Grandfather clock attacked him in the hallway once he was inside. Tatty had opted to stay outside after she'd expressed her lack of faith in his just-walk-in plan.
With one last deep breath James closed the door behind him. Trying to breathe evenly he worked hard to squash his fear down. His skin was tingling, around every corner he expected to be attacked. His adrenaline was pumping so hard that he was practically buzzing with anticipation. Upstairs. There wasn't any particular reason for that choice but it seemed like the right choice. So up the stairs he went, carefully stepping on the outermost edges so that they didn't creak. Once up one flight he had a look around. Several doors on the landing presented themselves, one slightly ajar. This one.
James edged into the open doorway, reached around the frames into the room, and felt about for a light switch. He assumed that someone stood poised to respond to this maneuver and was so certain that they would pin his hand to the wall with a knife that when a vague yellow light flicked on, he was astonished he still had his full complement of fingers.
A single light bulb barely illuminated the room forcing light and shadow to share the space. Now that he could see the room James wasn't sure whether the tension of dread and anticipation was lessened. Dust sheets half covered old furniture that lay scattered about the room.
There were two doors, both of them closed. One was smaller and looked like it led to a wardrobe and the other looked like it might lead to a bathroom. Thin drapes hung from the solid looking window and there were neither thick nor long enough to hide a person.
Of more immediate concern was the bundle of sheet against the far wall. Someone appeared to be hiding under it covered from head to foot. The bundle trembled slightly.
Lily?
-
A/N: You and I both know that Lily's not there, she's in the kitchen searching for a weapon. What's lying in wait for dear Jamie?
