Disc.: Oh, you know how it goes. Let's keep moving...
Chapter Twenty Six
Lily felt... well, she didn't know. Dirty, maybe. Upset. She couldn't remember why. She had a pounding headache and felt sick to her stomach. She glanced at the clock, frowning. Had time really gotten so far away from her? She still had almost a full stack of reports that needed notes. She pushed in the chair and stood, her body aching painfully that she nearly cried out. She gripped the chair tightly, willing her body to settle. She headed home, limping still on an overly sore ankle, until she entered her building. She leaned against the wall, waiting for the lift.
The door slid open, Damon and Scorpius stepping out without realizing that she was heading on, the boys had been arguing again. Lily bounced off of them and hit the floor hard, her hands and bottom taking the brunt of the fall. They stood there, staring at her in surprise. She felt like she was in a daze.
"Merlin Lily, what the hell happened to you?" Scorpius asked as he and Damon both hurried to scoop her up off the floor.
"Dunno," Lily mumbled.
"You look like you've been hit by the Knight Bus," Damon commented. Lily shot him an unappreciative look.
"Well, I feel just peachy, thanks," Lily lied as she regained her footing.
"No, seriously, Lily, you look like you've been beaten up pretty badly," Scorpius' voice hitched up like he was bordering on hysteria.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Lily gasped as Damon touched her cheek, the pain shooting through her. She smacked his hand away, glaring at him through the tears.
"How can you not know what happened to you?" Scorpius demanded.
"I don't know! I don't know anything!" Lily yelled at him. A few of the first floor neighbors poked their heads out the door as Scorpius and Damon pushed her back on to the lift. The three rode back up in silence, Damon and Scorpius throwing each other looks. They sat Lily on the chair, both of them facing her from the sofa.
"Lily, what is the last thing you remember?" Damon asked as Scorpius pulled out a piece of parchment and quickly penned something, whistling for the building owl.
"I was at work, sitting in front of a huge stack of charts, and it was time to go," Lily murmured. She stood up and began to pace as well as she could, limping.
"Before that?" Scorpius asked as Lily leaned on the hall table, looking at her reflection in disbelief. Someone or something had battered her up pretty much to the point that she was almost unrecognizable.
"I don't know, Marshall, maybe? I think he bandaged my ankle up," Lily explained. "I fell."
"A fall did this?" Scorpius asked.
"Send for Marshall, too," Damon told Scorpius. He nodded and took another piece of parchment, sending it a few minutes after the first one.
"When did you fall, Lily?" Scorpius asked her gently. He touched her face gently and she cringed away from her.
"After we fought," Lily looked away from her reflection. She felt so weary.
"We fought?" Scorpius murmured.
"About the kiss," Damon whispered.
"Oh. OH! Shit," Scorpius moaned.
"Not right now," Damon hissed. "We can deal with that later."
"Okay," Scorpius nodded.
"Keep your shit together," Damon reminded him as the door swung open and Draco stormed in, angry. He glanced at both men before his eyes fell on Lily and something changed slightly in his expression.
"What the hell happened to her?" Draco demanded.
"We're hoping you could give us insight," Damon explained coolly. Draco's eyes narrowed at him.
"Not until you two go into that other room and stop these childish fucking games," Draco snapped. Begrudgingly, both men headed into the master bedroom. They returned a short time later to see Marshall had arrived and was in the process of checking Lily over. In addition to the bruising on her face and arms, she had pretty severe bruising on her legs and the side of her rib cage and back. The only thing that seemed to have been spared had been her stomach.
"What happened to her?" Marshall asked as he eased her shirt over her side.
"We could ask you, she said the last thing she really remembers was you bandaging up her ankle from a fall," Scorpius explained.
"She didn't give me any additional details, and she certainly didn't look like this when I treated her. No way," Marshall shook his head.
"What about Shana?" Lily gasped as she leaned back against the sofa.
"Lily, she went home sick last night not long after you came on," Marshall's words were gentle. "I asked you if you'd be okay alone, and you said that you would."
"Alone?" Draco asked quietly. "She was alone for eight hours last night and no one checked on her?"
"It's the middle of the night, and everyone sleeps," Marshall countered. "You must have left before your replacement got there, which is uncommon, but not unheard of. You don't remember anything else, at all, anyone that might have come to the ward?"
"No, no one came," Lily shook her head and immediately wished she hadn't.
"With your permission, I think it might be time for me to unlock your mind," Draco offered quietly. He looked at Marshall.
"Legilimens?" Marshall asked. He frowned.
"Look, I understand why you didn't want to when she first came back from Argentina," Draco countered. "But she's stronger now, and this is important. It's obvious that someone is out to harm her."
"I bet it's the minister," Damon grumbled.
"Don't be silly, Damon," Lily groaned. "Why would the minister want to hurt me?"
"Are you kidding me? He had you locked away in Azkaban for five months for no reason," Scorpius shot back. "He's under investigation-"
"Exactly, he's under investigation. He loves his job, and he wouldn't risk the publicity of hurting me," Lily interrupted. She struggled into a standing position. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm very uncomfortable and-"
"Shit," Marshall jumped up, ignoring the puddle of water that seemed to be spreading at her feet.
"Did she-" Damon jumped back.
"Is that-" Scorpius moved forward.
"It's too soon!" Lily howled.
"Lily, you need to lie down immediately," Marshall scooped her up in his arms and too off toward the bedroom. Draco was right in front of him, yanking down the shower curtain and pulling the rod down with it, placing it on the bed.
"What do we do?" Damon asked.
"Aparate to my house," Marshall fished the keys from his pocket. "I have an in-home office. Grab all the bags marked maternity."
"Shouldn't she go to St. Mungo's or something?" Scorpius asked. "She's only 32 weeks."
"We will, but for now, just go," Marshall bellowed at them. Damon and Scorpius aparated right out of the bedroom. Marshall rounded on Draco. "You have ten minutes before they return. Get in, get out, and for the love of Merlin, if you scramble her brains, I'll throttle you."
"Marshall?" Lily cried out as her hand went to her stomach. It clenched painfully under her hand and she gasped for breath.
"It's all going to be okay, Lily. Draco's going to do a relaxation technique on you while I check on your baby, okay?" Marshall lied. Lily could hear the untruth in his tone, but the pain in her grew.
"He's too early," Lily cried.
"It's going to be okay, Lily," Marshall promised. "I'm going to try and stop your labor, okay? But even if I can't, eight weeks early isn't all bad. Do you trust me?"
"Did you see her neck?" Draco asked Marshall as he brushed her hair out of her face.
"Yeah, he wants her dead," Marshall replied grimly.
"Do you think-"
"Yeah, Draco, I do think it was him," Marshall nodded. He focused on Lily as Draco placed his thumbs over her temples slightly. "Lily, now I know you're not a fan of being undressed, but I really have to check you, okay?"
"Okay," Lily cried.
"Shh, Lily," Draco murmured quietly to her, his mouth near her ear. "Everything is going to be okay. No one can hurt you any more, okay? Right now I need you to close your eyes, count back with me from ten, and let me in your mind."
Lily closed her eyes, slowly counting. With each roll of number, the pain that seemed to encompass her eased away until she was standing in a giant room, bright and white, full of filing cabinets. She looked to her left to see Draco there, blinking in the too white light. He was holding her hand, and suddenly she felt very small and vulnerable.
"Where are we?" Draco asked.
"I was going to ask you the same, Draco," Lily replied.
"Is this where you were when you were-"
"After I was tortured and I was locked in my mind? No, that place was scary and dark," Lily shook her head. She looked at his hand. "Can I let you go, or will you fall away?"
"You tell me, this your mind," Draco smiled at her. Lily released his hand and waited, ready to grab on if he began to fade away. He remained and Lily felt the urge to spin in the glittery light.
"Why are we here?" Lily asked him after she'd stopped spinning and giggling.
"Someone hurt you, someone that continues to hurt you," Draco looked at the rows of cabinets that seemed to go on forever. "I think they're trying to end you. I'd like to see if we can find out why you don't remember."
"Okay," Lily nodded. She looked at him, shielding her eyes. "Where do we start to look?"
"I hoped you could tell me..." Draco answered. Lily shrugged.
"How would I know?" Lily asked.
"This is the way your subconscious makes sense of this," Draco advised.
"Wow, I'm boring!" Lily sighed. Draco chuckled. Lily ran her hands along the tops of the filing cabinets. She touched the handle of one and pulled the drawer open. "Looks as good as any to start looking."
"I can't touch your memories unless you hand them to me," Draco told her. Lily reached into the drawer and pulled out a glass sphere. "Kind of looks like a prophecy ball."
"Nah," Lily scrunched up her nose and laughed. "It's a rememberall."
"Really, Lily? How original," Draco retorted dryly.
"Hey, we've already established that I'm probably the most boring person in the world," she laughed, holding the ball out. "Is this what you're looking for?"
Draco took the ball, squeezing it and looking inside as the memory played out. It was one of Lily being a little girl, swinging higher and higher on the swings. She still wore her hair in braided pigtails, and she was being pushed by her older brother, James. Lily and him watched for a moment before Draco released the pressure on the ball and handed it back to her.
"Safe to say not," Draco replied.
"Maybe..." Lily continued to walk down the long corridor. "Maybe they're in time-order?"
"Maybe?" Draco shrugged. Lily walked a little further down, opening another drawer. She reached in the drawer and pulled out another ball, handing it off to Draco. They looked on, Lily bumping into Scorpius at Flourish and Blots Book Shop.
"That's the first time I spoke to him," Lily smirked. "I think I might have already started to love him then." They looked on as Draco swooped in like an over-grown blond haired bat.
"Is that how you saw me?" Draco took offense.
"You were scary. Oh, just wait!" Lily took the ball and tossed it haphazardly back into the drawer. She took Draco's hand and drug him a little further down, jerking open the drawer. She handed him another ball. "That's how I saw your dad. That man scared the ever loving stuffing out of me!"
"He was a rather imposing man," Draco chuckled as he looked in on the memory. He could feel the fear spilling out of the orb as his father held tight and threatened 11 year old Lily at her first Slytherin Ball. He jerked his hand back, releasing the replay. "Why didn't you say something? He shouldn't have been manhandling you like that."
"I don't know," Lily shrugged, not looking at Draco. She ran her hand over her arm.
"Are you experiencing these memories when we replay them?" Draco asked her, his eyes wide with surprise.
"They are my memories to relive, aren't they?" Lily laughed weakly.
"You do realize there are probably some memories in here that are so horrific that someone took the time to erase them," Draco warned. Lily glanced up at him.
"Draco, no one can ever truly erase a memory," Lily warned. "Tamper with, but the truth will always be there, a stain on the soul, just under the surface."
"Our time is up for now," Draco warned as the room started to fade away.
"Until next time?" Lily asked with a shaky breath.
"If you can stomach it," Draco promised.
"I survived them once," Lily reminded him. She blinked, her body sore but no longer in pain. Marshall leaned back, pleased but tired. Damon and Scorpius, were sitting off to the side of her, next to each other in chairs drug from the kitchen.
"Are you okay?" Scorpius asked as he brushed her hair out of her face. Draco had pulled back and started pacing the room. Lily nodded wordlessly, looking down at the bed. Half a dozen of spent syringes were heaped near her hip.
"Is he?" Lily's hand went to her stomach instinctively.
"He's still safe and sound in there," Marshall promised, covering her with a blanket to her hips. "I was able to stop labor."
"Thank you," Lily smiled slightly.
"You need to stay in bed, except to shower and use the bathroom, and make those very quick, okay? We want to get him five more weeks," Marshall advised. He glanced at Draco, who shook his head once, almost imperceptibly.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Scorpius asked coolly.
"I gave him permission," Lily sighed. "Them permission. Whomever NEEDS permission."
"Did they tell you that you will relieve every single memory?" Scorpius implored, taking her hand in his.
"Scorpius, I survived them once, I can do it again," Lily promised.
"Lily some of those memories are horrible," Damon confessed. "You didn't-"
"You weren't there, to bear witness," Scorpius shook his head. "I don't think I could survive seeing you go through that again. The horrors still haunt me, and I only watched."
"Scorpius, someone is obviously out to get Lily," Draco explained.
"So, we never leave her alone again!" Scorpius exclaimed. "Damon and I will be her permanent sentries."
"You will be, yes, but only until we get to the bottom of this, son," Draco explained, placing his hand on Scorpius' shoulder. "I know, I've seen how much she loves you in just a single memory, an early one before love could possibly have taken root. I don't doubt it, not any more."
"I never did," Scorpius pulled away from his father, leaning forward and taking her hand. "Lily, I'm so, so sorry we fought."
"It's okay," Lily promised. "You had every right to be mad."
"Hormones?" Damon asked when Lily burst into tears.
"Yep," Scorpius grinned, kissing her forehead.
"You know, it's not always hormones!" Lily cried louder.
"Actually, it probably is more so now than ever, Lily," Marshall said with a grin. "Added to the amount of drugs I have pumping in you to mature the baby's lungs and keep you infection free, and to stop your contractions, you're a hot-mess."
"You two are on Lily watch from here on out," Draco advised. "She's going to stay in this bed until the last possible moment, and when it's time, she'll be transferred to St. Mungo's under my watch. She is not to be left alone with anyone, at all. Two people in here at all times, is that clear? Just until we get to the bottom of this."
"Yes sir," Damon and Scorpius answered in unison.
"This is a detector-charm," Draco said slipping a necklace over Lily's head. "If anyone is not who they're claiming to be, it'll heat up and vibrate, you won't mistake it for anything else. That means anyone... including you two fools if you try poly juice or anyone else tries to slip in here under the guise of something else."
''Okay," Lily nodded, tucking the charm under her shirt. "Can it get wet?"
"Yes," Draco replied. "Never take it off. Just until we figure this whole situation out."
"I'll be back to check on you every day," Marshall promised as he cleaned up the sharps. He looked at her carefully. "And Lily, absolutely, positively no SEX."
"Okay, not a problem," Lily promised. Marshall looked at Damon and Scorpius, frowning.
"There is absolutely NOTHING protecting the baby from the outside world," Marshall explained.
"Got it!" Scorpius promised frowning back at Marshall.
"Good," Marshall nodded once. "Any further attempts at accessing her memories, just to be safe, I should probably be here. We don't know what might trigger a severe emotional response, and I'm sure there's bound to be quite a bit of it."
"Sounds good, maybe tomorrow?" Draco asked.
"Perhaps it'd be better to wait a few days, to make sure she's settled down," Marshall explained frowning. "The initial attempt was unlikely to get very far, and for such a short amount of time."
"Sounds good," Draco said. "I'll see you out, Marshall. Damon, Scorpius, stay." Draco remained gone for longer than it should have taken to walk Marshall to the front door, but Damon and Scorpius didn't seem to care. They were focused on Lily.
"How do you feel?" Scorpius asked.
"I don't know," Lily admitted honestly. "Sore."
"I bet," Damon touched her stomach.
"Greasy, ewe, why is my shirt sticking to me?" Lily fussed.
"That'd be the bruise-b-gone," Scorpius made a face. "Apparently Healer Marshall coated you in it to ease up on some of the bruising."
"I bet Scorpius loved walking in on that," taunted Lily.
"Oh, it was enlightening," teased Damon. They laughed, causing Scorpius to scowl slightly.
"Yes, Lily, it bothered me to see Marshall's hands on you," Scorpius admitted begrudgingly. "And in you."
"Oh, get off it man," Damon howled with laughter. "The girl's nuts over you."
"Better be," Scorpius grumbled as he kissed her forehead. "Now, let's see if we can get this bedroom a little more friendly for three."
"Sleepover!" Lily laughed, clapping her hands. Damon chuckled, Scorpius smirked.
"It's going to be a long eight weeks," Scorpius sighed as he stood, arranging the pillows on the king-sized bed, with Lily smack dab in the middle of the fray.