Chapter One
I Meet Voldemort's Right-Hand Man and Live to See Another Day
"Sozo! Hey, wait up!" a girl was yelling from behind me. I turned and saw a pretty red-headed girl with bright green eyes running to catch up with me.
"Hey Lil," I greeted my best friend.
"So great to be back at Hogwarts in a few days, huh?" she asked, panting slightly. "Hard to believe that after this year, we'll only have one left and be out on our own."
"It's not so bad out there," I assured her. "I've been living alone for five years and I've done just fine."
"Yeah, but you're made of tough stuff girl."
"Ha. Yeah. But I'm probably the most vulnerable person out there. Ironic, huh?"
"Very. No one needs to know that though. And they won't."
"Ooooh Llllily Flowerrrrr! Did you miss me?" James Potter, my other best friend and fellow Marauder asked, walking over to us with my other best friend Remus Lupin, and of course, my brother not one step behind.
"Hardly," Lily scoffed, turning away from the tall, slightly muscular boy with untamable jet black hair and light blue eyes covered by round glasses. "I can't believe you told those two loud-mouths," she muttered to me, causing me to chuckle.
"Aw, you know you don't mean that," James said, smiling cockily.
"Yes, actually, I do mean it," Lily insisted.
"Hey Prongs," I said.
"Hey Eridani," he said flirtatiously. "How was your summer?"
"Great. Yours?"
"Dull after you left."
"Stop flirting with my sister, Prongs," Sirius said, smirking. "You're making me gag."
"You know she only likes it when I flirt with her," Remus said, putting an arm around my shoulder. He was extremely tall, maybe around 6'7", and had light brown hair, pale skin, and bright blue eyes similar to James'. What stood out most, however, were the two jagged scars that went parallel across his face.
"Oh Merlin help us. I think I'm going to be sick," Sirius said.
I chuckled and hugged both Remus and James. "Good to see you two. It's been a long five weeks without you three."
"Don't be jealous Lily. I love Eridani and all, but I've only got eyes for you," James said, glancing at Lily.
"Damn. Eridani, please take him. I don't want it."
"It?" I asked, holding back a laugh.
"Oops. Did I say it? I meant him…no. I was right. 'It' fits perfectly." Lily and I looked at each other for a moment, and then burst out in giggles.
"Eridani! How could you not defend me? I'm your brother!" James said, a mock hurt look on his face. Another thing that we Marauders had in common was that we were all great actors.
"Mate, if she's your sister, then why were you hitting on her?" Remus asked.
"I'll ask you the same thing Mr. Older and Oh-so Responsible One," James shot back.
"No, that's me," Sirius said. "But you forgot to add the 'Good Looking' part."
"Yeah, right. Don't kid yourself Black," Lily scoffed.
"I'm not the only one full of myself Evans," my brother snapped. I gave Remus and James a look that said 'Oh boy. Here we go again.'
"Oooo, I'm the perfect Lily Evans and I'm soooo beautiful and soooo smart! I have the totally hot James Potter wrapped around my skinny little finger and I love to break his heart! Everybody looooves me!" he said in a higher voice.
"Hey, I'm Sirius Black, the hotshot and playboy! I like to do every girl in sight even though I have absolutely no respect or feelings for them at all! I'm a man-whore and I am just as good as a god! Everybody bow at my feet and worship me! I'm oh-so good at Quidditch and am so goddamn good looking no one can resist me!" Lily shot back, deepening her voice.
"Well—"
"As much as I love your guys' arguments, I've gotta go. I need new robes," I interrupted them, exchanging glances with Remus and James. "I'll meet you at the Leaky Cauldron, okay?"
"Yeah. See you then Eridani," Remus and James said as Sirius and Lily continued their soon-to-be hour long argument. Can't say that I wasn't glad to leave that. Trust me, when my brother and my best girl friend got into it, it was best to either back off or run away and hide.
I broke off from the group and ducked my head inside the shop where they made Hogwarts robes. I watched my friends walk on down the street and disappear around a corner, and then stepped back out of the shop. Truthfully I didn't need any more supplies; I'd already come last week.
I walked down the street the opposite way from where my friends had gone. I had time to kill, so I figured I'd go ahead and get a drink or two at the Leaky Cauldron. The owner liked me and I was able to convince him to put some shots into my drinks every now and then. It did me good since I couldn't actually get drunk, it mainly just made my powers feel more alive.
I was a few feet away from the pub when I heard a yell. I stopped and listened, making sure I hadn't been hearing things. But then I heard another scream, only this one was louder.
"Oh Merlin help me!" a man screamed, as if he was in pain.
I backtracked and poked my head around a corner and froze. It was probably the strangest sight I'd ever seen.
A wizard that seemed to be in his mid-thirties had his back against a wall with a sword at his throat. He was breathing heavily, as if he had already used all his energy. I looked at the sword bearer and could only see the backside. Tall, muscular, tan skin, and fair medium length black hair.
The reason this sight was so odd was that there was no dueling with magic. And the man with the sword at his throat seemed completely defenseless. Where was his wand? Why was he not fighting back? How did a man with only a sword defeat him?
I braced myself, and without thinking, I lunged. I grabbed the tall man around his waist and knocked him to the ground. The sword clattered to the ground and I heard the older man's retreating footsteps.
Great. I save your life and you run away like a coward so I can possibly be the first to die. Thank you, old man, I thought.
I was shoved off and I flew back into the wall, my head hitting it hard. I sat there for a moment, dazed. I heard someone walk over to me, and when I looked over, I saw someone crouched next to me, face inches from mine. I met his eyes, and sucked in a breath.
He had a well structured face that was as dark as his skin. He had lovely golden brown eyes that some of his silky black hair fell into, blocking them partially in some places. He smelled of this spice that I was unfamiliar with. Everything about him screamed mystery. The expression he had, however, was cold and merciless. He was a killer, and an experienced one at that. I recognized him immediately. He was Flynn Rider, the wanted thief and lead supporter of Voldemort. He was Voldemort's own personal assassin, and if rumor had it, he was paid greatly for his accomplishments. There was a big price on this man's head, whether he be dead or alive, and he was labeled extremely dangerous. The officials cautioned that if you were not trained in fighting against the Dark Arts to stay away.
He chuckled, a nice, deep sound. It sent shivers down my spine. "I take it you know me?" he asked.
I cocked my head to the left, away from him. "You could say that." I noticed a small bag with a single long strap on the ground at his side. That must've been where everything that he'd stolen today was kept.
"Who are you? I recognize you," he said, peering into my eyes like they were open doors leading down to my soul.
"Sozo. Can't say that I've ever seen you before except for your picture up on Wanted signs."
"Yes, well—" I saw a chance. I brought my fist up and punched him in his face, making him lose his balance and topple backwards. I leapt up, grabbed the bag, and took off, not looking back. I heard his footsteps behind me, and pushed myself even harder, putting even more distance between me and him. I ran like I would on the soccer field, except even faster, towards the Leaky Cauldron. If I could get in there, I could hide the bag somewhere, that way even if he did catch up to me and kill me and the others in the pub, he wouldn't have today's loot and hopefully would be punished for it by his master.
I grabbed the handle and flung the door open, jumped over the counter, and crouched low underneath. Tom, the barkeeper, looked at me curiously, but I motioned for him to keep quiet. I lifted up one of the floorboards, stuffed the bag in there, and closed it so it fit back snuggly just as the door was flung open again. I heard panting, and then someone cursed.
"Can I help you?" Tom asked. Obviously he hadn't seen the face of the man because he hadn't freaked out yet.
There was a pause. It was so long that I thought he was just going to ignore him and leave. But I couldn't be so lucky.
"Yeah. Did you see a girl run through here?" Rider asked through ragged breaths.
"A girl? Yes, I've seen many today," Tom replied, acting cool.
"No. Recently. A girl with long, wavy black hair, average height, kind of muscled, tan skin, and storm grey eyes." Damn. He'd gotten a good look at me.
"Umm…" Tom pretended to think. "No. I can't say I have. But someone did dart in here just a few moments ago and ran out that back door."
The door opened again and I heard the familiar voices of Sirius, James, Remus, and Lily. Their conversation dropped dead.
"She looked like him," the man muttered. I heard his footsteps again, and then the back door opened, shut, and I knew he was gone. I released the breath I'd been holding, counted to thirty-five, and then slowly stood up. I peeked over the counter and saw Sirius staring at the now closed door and the rest just giving each other confused, blank looks. Tom, being the good man he was, was busy putting some drinks together for us.
"What the bloody hell was that?" Sirius demanded. All eyes turned to me.
"Ah, nothing," I replied evasively.
"Nothing my ass," Sirius snapped.
"Not here," I said carefully. Just then the door opened and customers filed in.
"Private conversations should not be taken place in the open," Tom agreed with a knowing look in his eyes. "Here, drinks on me. Enjoy." He handed us each a drink and then went off to help others. He turned around and looked at me. "Sozo, my dear?" he asked.
"Yeah?"
"I think I might have dropped my wand under the counter. Would you be a dear and grab that for me?"
I knew he was giving me an excuse to crawl under the counter and get the satchel. "Sure." I knelt, quietly took the bag from the floorboards, fastened it around my shoulder, and stood. "Wasn't there, Tom."
"Ah, yes. It's right here in my pocket. Thank you Sozo."
Lily gave me a suspicious look while Remus eyed the satchel at my side. Sirius and James just looked plain ticked.
"Eridani Virginis Black you have a hell of a lot of explaining to do," Sirius growled under his breath, then he drained his glass.
I took a long drink, then said, "Later guys. Promise."
"You ran into who?"
"Flynn Rider," I repeated, leaning back in my seat. As soon as we had arrived at my house the interrogation had begun.
"You stole from who?"
"Flynn Rider," I said for the thousandth time, my patience wearing thin.
"You got in a fight with—"
"Yes Sirius! Flynn Rider! Get it through your thick head! I interrupted his plans and punched him and I'm here to tell the tale! Write a book about it if you're so interested!" I exploded. Despite the situation, our three friends laughed.
"He knows what you look like," Remus said, suddenly serious again.
"And he knows your name," Lily added, an equally worried expression on her face.
"Dumbledore will love this," James muttered.
"Oh shit. I'd forgotten about that," I grumbled.
"Do you think he'll go after you?" James asked.
"Yeah. He probably will," Remus said.
"After all, she does have what he desires most," Lily agreed.
"Great."
"Hey, don't worry Eridani, we've got your back," Remus assured me.
"Yup. We won't let anything happen to you." James nodded his head in agreement.
I chuckled humorlessly. "Thanks, but I think I can take care of myself. I put him off once, I can do it again."
"But he'll be expecting more from you next time," Remus protested.
"So? I'll figure it out. I don't want to bother you guys. You have your own lives."
Surprisingly it was Sirius who ended the argument with his very rare words of wisdom. "But five pairs of eyes are better than one."
"He's right," Lily said. "And you know I must be desperate for something if I'm agreeing with him."
"Fine. But no telling Dumbledore. We can handle this on our own."
They all exchanged glances, then nodded.
"But," Remus said. "if things get out of hand or to a point that we can't control it anymore, we tell him."
"Deal."
All I could do until we returned to the safety of Hogwarts was hope that he wasn't quick to find my location. But then, there was a part of me (the insane part that belonged in an asylum I'd been told by many) that wanted to see him again because he had given me excitement and something that went far from the ordinary of my everyday life. Maybe luck would be on my side. The only question was which side was I hoping luck would choose?
A/N: There. That's the first chapter. I'm not exactly sure what I think of it yet. I know that I'm making things move rather fast, which is something I'm not used to doing, but oh well. And just so you know, Eridani, the Marauders, and Lily are all sixteen and in their sixth year of Hogwarts. Why do I make this all begin in the sixth year of all years? Well, to tell the truth I really have no freaking idea. That's just the year that my fingers happened to type first. Remember when I said there would be no Rapunzel but there would be a Flynn Rider? If it helps at all, think of the characters this way: Eridani is the "alter-ego" of Rapunzel, and Flynn Rider is the "alter-ego" of, well, Flynn. Did I describe him right? Please let me know if I could add anything to his description later on! I would love to have help with that certain part because frankly, I have a mix of Flynn and Sirius in my mind since I love both of them (strange picture, huh?). Also, if you don't think my description of Eridani (Sozo) was good enough, please let me know so I can describe her again in some other chapter.
Well, let me know what you think! As always, if you have any ideas or things you feel should be corrected, let me know!
Please Review!
Nike
