Chapter 1. Lily Potter.
"I like it," Xenia smiled, looking at the cloak that Lily has finally picked out. They had been to three stores and couldn't find anything.
"Don't you think that it would look better on my father?" Lily looked down at the cloak she was holding. "Goes with his eye colour…"
"No, I don't think he would wear a woman's cloak," Xenia laughed.
Lily also laughed, enjoying the contentment she had been feeling, for the past few years and, especially in the last few days. She became Mrs. Scorpius Malfoy: it scared her and, at the same time, made her almost out-of-her-mind happy.
"All right, then I am off to the fitting room," Lily waved at Xenia, noting to herself that her friend seemed too pale today, and disappeared behind the curtain to try on the cloak. She turned this way and that in front of the mirror, imagining how irritated Malfoy would have gotten had he gone shopping with his wife. Men in general hated shopping, James especially so, and it was very lucky that Xenia was available this morning.
"Done, I am taking it," Lily walked out of the fitting room and headed for the cash register, where the wizard stood, chatting with a customer.
"We don't have to hurry, I think: it is twenty minutes to two," Xenia glanced at the clock. "James was going to drop by your parents; they are leaving today…"
"Yes," Lily put on her new cloak, because it was quite chilly for September in London. "I stopped by this morning to say goodbye. It will be good for Dad to get a break, especially from Jim and Al…"
They laughed.
"Ouch!" Lily thrust her hand in her pocket.
"What?"
"My wand… I think I lost it…"
"It's impossible, accio wand," Xenia also looked scared and paled even more. When the spell did not work, she searched all her pockets and her handbag. "Could you have dropped it when you were changing?"
Lily shrugged her shoulders:
"I think I'd better go back… Maybe you should go meet Jim and Scor, while I…"
"No, we have enough time; let's go together," Xenia gradually got her colour back, and Lily thought that her sister-in-law seemed odd today.
As they hurried back to the "Magic of Fashion" where Lily had tried on the cloak, Lily felt uneasy. How could she have dropped her wand? When? It was so strange. Besides, she couldn't shake the sensation of being watched. She turned a few times, but didn't see anyone.
"What is it?" Xenia looked at her friend, wrapping her warm shawl tighter around her.
"Nothing; it's just that Malfoy's paranoia is contagious," Lily tried to joke it off, in a genuine attempt at explaining her anxiety away with the suspiciousness which often vexed her about her husband.
They entered the store and headed for the fitting room where Lily had just used.
"Ladies, a young man was just here," the salesman approached them, smiling pleasantly. "He said that you had forgotten something in the fitting room. He asked to give this to you…" the man took a thick package out of the pocket of his uniform robes. "I guess, I should take a look…"
"No, I know what it is," Lily practically tore the package out of the clerk's hands, embarrassed that he should see her wand. How stupid would she look! "Thank you…"
"Better check first; what if it is not yours," Xenia said quietly, as they turned away from the man who was eyeing them curiously.
"And then what?" still, Lily began to unwrap the package carefully: better be safe than sorry. When the tip of her wand appeared, she breathed a sigh of relief: "It's fine; as I told you before – paranoia…" the girl's fingers closed around the wand, just as Xenia grabbed her wrist:
"Stop!"
But Lily had already touched the warm wood, which flashed blue, and she felt as though she was being pulled by her navel. She felt Xenia grip her hand, probably not wanting to abandon Lily.
A moment passed, or maybe an eternity. She shook her head, trying to understand what had happened when her wand flew out of her hand and fell to the floor a few paces away, hitting a stone surface.
At first, it was dark and quiet, and then they heard a voice that sounded odd, as though muted or altered:
"Welcome."
"Who are you?"
Lily started, remembering that she was here with Xenia, who was still holding her hand.
"Hmm, That is my line," a cold smirk was easily detectable in the voice that occasionally seemed familiar to Lily. "Although I would venture and easy guess: Xenia Potter, a sister of mercy and all that… It is getting even more interesting…"
"What do you want? Where are we?" Lily tried to make out something, anything in pitch darkness. It appeared that the man could see them, which indicated that he had something like the Hand of Glory that he father had told her about. The Hand that once belonged to the Malfoys…
In response somone's fingers gripped her thighs and pushed her to the right. She automatically took a few steps, guessing that it was a house elf, and immediately heard a strange grating noise, metallic clang, and the turning the lock.
"Xenia!" Lily dashed forward and collided painfully with the closed bars. They she heard the popping sound usually following someone Apparating, and then she was surrounded by complete darkness of a damp and humid dungeon.
The main thing – not to panic. She slowly began to feel her way around the perimeter of the tiny cell where she was confined. There were no windows or air-holes. Only a stone bed by the far wall, onto which the girl sank, thinking with a bitter smirk that she did well to have bought her warm cloak – she would need it here.
It's tough when you step on the same rake twice, especially when you are forced to do so. Because, having done so once, you already know how it may end. It hasn't happened yet, but you are already scared, and a glob of terror rolls up your throat, because you cannot do anything to change or fix the situation. Or rather, they won't let you.
She had never been to Hogwarts' dungeons that James and Scorpius told her about, and she had never been to the dungeons at Malfoy Manor that her husband and her family told her about. Yet, now, feeling the low stone ceiling overhead, and the uneven floor, with dark rough bars growing out of it, she was certain that this was what the dungeons of the old mansions and castled were like. An empty small room, full of stone and dampness, a stone bed, and creepy shadows that suddenly seem to appear in complete darkness.
Lily tried to pull herself together and figure out how long she had spent here. She figured it has been about an hour. An hour of waiting and torment of uncertainty. Who kidnapped them? Where was Xenia? What was happening to her? What would happen to them? When would Malfoy find them?
Of that her husband would find them, Lily had not a moment's doubt, and that gave her hope. Scorpius saved her before, many times; he found her the first time she was kidnapped. He will find her now.
How stupid she had been! Lily realized that what had happened was her own fault – after all, she sensed someone watching, felt the unease. And her wand, disappearing so inexplicably! How many times has Scorpius told her to trust her intuition? She merely joked it off… And now she sits in a dungeon, waiting. Waiting for someone whose voice she heard in the dark to decide her fate. Hers and Xenia's.
Lily stood up to examine her prison once more. She tried in vain to Disapparate or use wandless magic. She failed at the first (it was too much to expect her kidnapper to be stupid enough to leave her such an obvious escape route); and she was too inexperienced at the second. Perhaps, there was a way to escape from here, but she doubted it – she must be deep underground, what with no windows or air holes. And she is not mentally linked to anyone like she had been the first time, back at Hogwarts. And this is not Scorpius' mansion, familiar to him down to the last bush.
Could it be the house of the Zabinis?!
Until this morning Lily never asked herself what would happen when Priscilla is released or when her elder brother recovers. She has been living in her own fairy tale, where they simply didn't exist. Everything that had happened retreated firmly into the past, leaving behind only viscid longing for Mum. Yet, Malfoy was right: she would never be free of her rose-tinted glasses, of which he has been trying to divest her.
And so it was them who once again tried to get to her loved ones through her? Of course, it's them; and she had concealed from her husband the news of Priscilla's release… And that lie landed her right into their hands.
This time it was so simple: no horrible potions, no elaborate tricks. Everything was so transparent that in retrospect seemed brilliant. The wand was made into a portal. And the package where the Zabinis had placed it was made of dragon hide. Only it was treated with something, to prevent the portal activating accidentally.
How stupid was this! Malfoy will kill her when he learns just how easily she'd been ensnared… How long will it take Malfoy to figure out who was behind their kidnapping?.. And what will the Zabinis do, now that they have both Xenia and her?
She heard footsteps; the corridor that led to her cell filled with rustles.
It will be merrier for you to be together," the same voice remarked next to the bars. They heard the grating of the keys, the air trembled, as a palpable indication of a spell being removed. The sound of a few footsteps, and the door closed again, leaving behind a faint aroma of Xenia's perfume. "If you need anything, holler," the kidnapper said with a smirk (Lily was trying in vain to figure out whether she had heard this voice before or not). "Maybe someone will hear you…"
The girls stood still and silent until the footsteps faded in the distance.
"Are you all right?" Xenia touched lily with ice-cold fingers, and began walking about the perimeter of their prison.
"Where have you been? What does he want? Who is he?" Lily sat down on the bench, eyeing her friend anxiously. She wasn't sure she should share her suspicions about Zabini. Why scare her? Especially since they don't know anything for sure. If only she could see him…
"I was in another cell, above, we took the stairs down on the way here," Xenia sat down next to Lily. "There was a bit lighter there, but I couldn't see this man. Of sense him, as off as it seems. It is as though he is surrounded by a shield. Or a mirror… He left at one point, then came back and said that it shouldn't be a problem for you and I sharing quarters, for as long as we are enjoying his hospitality.
The two of them fell silent, aware that things were looking down for them so far, indeed.