Chapter 20: Missing
Karen walked down the stairs. Sirius was sitting on the couch staring into the fire. Karen smiled and walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his neck. "What's wrong?" she whispered into his ear.
Sirius smiled and leaned his head back. "Nothing," he mumbled.
"I'm going over to visit Lily so I'll be back soon," she said before kissing him.
Karen walked outside and Disapparated to Lily's apartment. Karen walked over to the lady at the front desk. "Can I help you, miss?" she asked. The old lady had white hair that sat in a bun atop of her head. Her face was full of wrinkles, but there was a light in her blue eyes that showed she still had many years left.
"Yeah, I was wondering what room Lily Evans was in?" Karen asked.
"425," she answered.
"Thanks," Karen said then walked up the stair to the 4th floor.
She reached number 425 in no time and knocked on the door. No one answered. She knocked again. "Lily?" Karen called. "Lily, it's Karen."
Still on one answered. Odd, Karen thought. She's probably at Healer training. Shrugging she walked away and went back down stairs. "Excuse me, sorry to bother you again, but did a red-headed girl check in here, by the name of Lily Evans?" Karen asked the lady at the front desk.
"Yes, last night," the sweet lady replied. "As I said before she is in room 425."
"Did she leave this morning?" Karen asked.
"No, I haven't seen her since last night," the lady said.
"Right, thanks," Karen said before walking back up the stairs. She probably Flooed to St. Mongo's, Karen thought. Yeah, that's it.
James walked into the living room and saw Sirius sitting on the couch looking rather upset. "Mate, are you alright?" James asked, sitting down next to him.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sirius replied.
"You sure? You look a bit upset," James said.
Just as Sirius was about to say something the door burst open. "Lily's gone!" Karen exclaimed.
"What do you mean?" James asked, standing up.
"I mean, I can't find her," Karen replied. "I went to her apartment and the lady there said that she hadn't seen her since last night. So I went to St. Mongo's to see if she Flooed there, but they said she hadn't check in today. I tried to Floo to her house, but the fireplace isn't in the Floo network."
"Ok, calm down," James said. "I'm sure there's a perfectly good explanation for this. Come on we are going down to her apartment right now and checking her room."
"Right," Karen said, nodding. Sirius stood up and followed James out of the door.
Karen fell in line with Sirius. "Do you think she's ok?"
"I don't know," Sirius said, looking at Karen in a defeated way.
James walked over to the lady at the front desk. "Excuse me, I don't mean to bother you, but can I have the key to room 425?" James asked.
"Certainly not!" the lady exclaimed.
"Look, it's important," James said hurriedly.
"If you don't live here or have authorization you can't have the key," she said. "Besides you're too young to do anything important at the Ministry, anyway."
"Well, for your information, I happen to be an Auror in training," James said.
"James, insulting her isn't going to help," Karen said.
"Right, sorry," James said. "Look, if you don't give us the key, we'll just blast the door down."
"James!" Karen hissed. "Look, miss, our friend was staying in that room and she hasn't been seen or heard from since yesterday. Please, we just want to make sure she's ok."
The lady sighed. "Fine."
"Thank you," Karen said. The lady walked over to a shelf and pulled down a set of keys. Karen took them and walked up the stairs with Sirius and James following her. When she reached the door, Karen took the keys and turned them in the lock. The door slowly creaked open.
Inside, nothing looked unusual. There was a couch and two chairs in the living room. A kitchen to the right. A bedroom to the left.
Karen took a step inside the room. "Hello?" she called. "Lily? Lily, it's Karen, are you here?"
There was no answer. Sirius and James walked into the living room looking around. Karen moved forward and looked around the room. She turned and walked into the kitchen to look around. There was nothing unusual about it. It all looked very normal. "I think I found something," Sirius called.
Karen walked back into the living room. She saw Sirius and James in the bedroom so she walked over to them. "What's up?" she asked then stopped short.
Lily's clothes were scattered everywhere. Her trunk was ripped and thrown to the side. Her blankets were thrown off the bed. The wallpaper was ripped so that it was falling down. Everything about it spelled Bellatrix.
"No," Karen whispered. "No!"
Tears spilled out of her eyes and she clung to Sirius, burying her face in his shirt. Sirius wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. What else could he do? It was his fault that Lily was captured, probably being tortured somewhere. He was the one who told her to leave James alone. He was one who pushed her away from him. If he hadn't interfered this might not have happened. It was all his fault.
James remained surprisingly calm during all of this. "We need to tell Moony," he said.
"What?!" Remus yelled. "What do you mean she disappeared?! No one just vanishes into thin air!"
"Her bedroom was a mess, Moony," Sirius said. "Bellatrix's doing by the look of it."
"But. . . .but it's Lily," Remus muttered as he sat down. "She can't be gone. She's too good to get captured by them."
"She was probably jumped," Karen said, her eyes red and puffy. "Where do we start looking?"
"We don't," Remus replied.
"What do you mean we don't?!" Sirius nearly yelled.
"We have to tell Dumbledore," he said. "He will know what to do."
"Remus is right," James said. "We should talk to Dumbledore. He knows more about Voldemort's ranks than anyone."
"I see," Dumbledore said when they had finished telling him about Lily. "I'll send out my best agents to find her. You must understand that it may take a while to uncover someone like Bellatrix. You must also understand that I can't send you all because your emotions might sway what choices you make."
"So we're just supposed to sit back and wait?!" Karen said.
"Yes, Ms. Moore," Dumbledore said, looking at her sternly. "She's your best friend. Wouldn't you do anything to save her life?"
Karen hung her head and Sirius wrapped his arms around her. "I suggest you all get back to your houses," Dumbledore told them. "Be very careful. You never know who's watching."
James nodded and stood up. Sirius followed. They all walked down to Hogmeade and Apparated to James' house from there. Remus decided to stay with them while Lily was missing so that way he could be near by if anything happened.
Karen sighed as she entered the house. She wanted to get away from all this. She wanted to walk out that door and go look for Lily, despite the consciences. Her best friend was out there, probably being tortured. She hated that she had to sit here helpless and wait for someone else to find Lily. Karen didn't how James could be taking this so well. Lily was his first love, after all. He had chased after her for years. Now here he was acting as if this was a minor bump in the road to his perfect life. She knew he didn't love Lily anymore, but how could he be so calm?
"I'll be in my room if you need me," James said, climbing the stairs.
"Me too," Remus said, following James.
Karen sat down on the couch and covered her face with her hands. How could she let this happen? Lily was her best friend they were supposed to look out for each other in the good times and the bad. "Why her?" Karen croaked.
"I don't know," Sirius said. "I don't understand why they would go after Lily."
Karen stared into the fireplace. Suddenly Sirius pounded his fist into the wall. "This is all my fault," he said. "If I hadn't jumped on her about James then she would still be here. She would be safe."
He fell to his knees, tears silently falling down his cheeks. "Hey, it's not your fault," Karen said, kneeling down next him. "Lily would have moved out sooner or later. It was only a matter of time."
Sirius buried his face in her neck and cried while Karen held him tightly.
James walked into his room and shut the door. She was gone; she was really gone. He kicked the post of his bed.
It was all his fault. If he had only insisted she stayed, she would be here right. Angry tears spilled out of his eyes. How could he let her slip through this fingers? He had her and he lost her. He had managed to keep his cool all day, but now. . . .now it was really sinking in. Lily was missing.